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"I did more research, and realized I almost would rather be a biologist than a writer, because there was incredible stuff going on!"
- Greg Bear

Data-Net  
  An early mention of the idea of a nationwide data network.  

Three hundred million people with access to the integrated North American data-net is a nice big number of potential consultees.
Technovelgy from The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner.
Published by Harper and Row in 1975
Additional resources -

The idea is mentioned throughout the book; here are some additional quotes:

According to recent report, there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now, the machines had been instructed to give them low priority unless they related to a medical emergency...

Meantime, taking advantage of the corporation's status, he could gain access to data-nets that were ordinarily secure...

"Healthy adults like yourself capable of doing things that have never been done before, such as writing a complete new identity into the data-net over a regular veephone..."

Compare to this very early use of the word web as a metaphor for a data network in Souvenir, a 1954 story by Philip K. Dick. See also See also tanks from A Logic Named Joe (1946) by Murray Leinster.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Shockwave Rider
  More Ideas and Technology by John Brunner
  Tech news articles related to The Shockwave Rider
  Tech news articles related to works by John Brunner

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