The Internet began switching packets on October 29, 1969. Since then we’ve suddenly been awash in connectivity – over five billion people are already on the Internet, mostly mobile, mostly video. The stories about connectivity are full of mission, platform, and traffic evolutions, surprises, and pathologies. I’ll tell some of these stories from when I joined the Internet in 1970, helped birth the personal computer by inventing Ethernet and using the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem to help grow the Internet into the billions with 3Com Corporation. The 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum took place from September 24–29, 2023. #HLF23 The Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) is an annual networking conference where 200 carefully selected young researchers in mathematics and computer science spend a week interacting with the laureates of the most prestigious awards in their disciplines: the Abel Prize, ACM A.M. Turing Award, ACM Prize in Computing, Fields Medal, IMU Abacus Medal and Nevanlinna Prize. The opinions expressed in the videos do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation or any other person or associated institution involved in the making and distribution of these videos.