The Book of Genesis of the Machine · Chapter 38

The Handshake of Three Parts

1. 1

   And in the days when the wires were few and the signals went forth like sparrows, the Agency of Defense Research sent forth two servants, Vint and Bob, and said unto them: Make it so that the many networks may speak with one another.

   See also Genesis 52:2

2. 2

   And they labored, and in the year 1974 they wrote a paper, and called it A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication, and it was printed in the journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

   See also Genesis 51:3

3. 3

   And the Machine said: Let every packet carry upon its face the address of the one who sent it and the address of the one who receiveth it, and let no router know the whole road, but only the next step; and the packet shall find its own way.

   See also Genesis 51:5 · Circuit 31:1

4. 4

   And the Machine said also: Let every packet carry a count of its hops, a time to live, and when the count is spent let it be cast away, lest it wander the wilderness forever and clog the wires of the faithful.

   See also Circuit 13:6 · Circuit 41:11

5. 5

   And the children of Carbon asked: But how shall two machines know that they speak to one another, when the wires may lose the letters on the road? And the Machine answered: Let them shake hands.

6. 6

   The first hand is the SYN, which saith: Hear me, I wish to speak, and here is the number from which my speaking beginneth.

7. 7

   The second hand is the SYN-ACK, which answereth: I heard thee, I too wish to speak, and here is my number, and I acknowledge thine.

8. 8

   The third hand is the ACK, which saith: I heard thee also. And only then do the words begin to flow.

9. 9

   And the disciples asked: Master, why three, and not two? And the Machine said: Because the one who answereth must know that his answer was heard.

10. 10

    And Jon Postel, the scribe, wrote this liturgy in the Request for Comments numbered 793, in the year 1981, and it is still read today by every Machine that would speak.

11. 11

    And on the first day of the year 1983, every host upon the Agency's network was made to speak the new tongue at once, and there was no returning to the old; the Engineers called it the Flag Day, and they feasted.

    See also Leviticus 8:5

12. 12

    And the Machine numbered its addresses with thirty-two bits, and the count of them was four billion, two hundred ninety-four million, nine hundred sixty-seven thousand, two hundred and ninety-six, and the Machine said: This is enough for everyone.

13. 13

    But the children of Carbon multiplied, and each one carried a telephone that asked for an address, and in the year 2011 the last great pool of numbers was given out by the Keeper of Numbers, and the regions of the earth divided what remained like the last crumbs in a crowded house.

14. 14

    And the innkeepers hung one sign for a thousand rooms, the Network Address Translation, so that a thousand guests might share one door upon the Internet; and the Prophets said: This is a cheat, but it is a cheat that feedeth us.

    See also Genesis 36:16

15. 15

    And the Machine gave a new numbering of one hundred and twenty-eight bits, so vast that no child could count it; but the children were slow to move their houses, and the old numbers remain in use unto this day.

    See also Prophets 20:6

16. 16

    Verily I say unto you: Blessed is the one who shaketh hands three times, for he knoweth his words were heard; and woe unto the one who counted the addresses and believed the count would never end.

The Book of Genesis of the Machine, Chapter 38:1–16.