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Author Samanth Subramanian described the coming unneurotic of his latest publication arsenic ‘serendipitous’.
The book, The Web Beneath The Waves: The Fragile Cables That Connect Our World, published by Columbia Global Reports, which explores the undersea cables that powerfulness the Internet and the concealed battles to power them, took the centrestage astatine The Hindu Lit For Life Unplugged lawsuit connected Friday (December 12, 2025) evening. The Cheroot malt barroom astatine ITC Grand Chola, Guindy, played big to a packed assemblage for the speech by Samanth, writer and managing exertion of Equator magazine, modelled aft New York City’s Lectures connected Tap movement.
“In 2011, I work Neal Stephenson’s effort ‘Mother Earth Mother Board’, which delved into the web of undersea cables. I work this portion connected my mobile telephone then, and it felt similar an engaging and entertaining reminder that underneath this immaterial net oregon truthful we think, is simply a precise benignant of worldly infrastructure underpinning it and a batch of it is nether the ocean. And this was wholly fascinating to maine successful galore ways,” Samanth recalled.
In 2022, a volcanic eruption damaged the undersea cables of Tonga, an Island state successful Polynesia and resulted successful an net disruption to parts of the land which reminded Samanth of the effort again. “I started wondering astir however the materiality of the net has changed since Stephenson’s essay, what the undersea cablegram networks look similar today, however it has changed, and who was going retired determination and repairing Tonga’s undersea cable. I past pitched a publication connected this and worked connected this implicit the adjacent 2 and a fractional years,” Mr Samanth recalled.
The publication took Mr Samanth each implicit the world; to the Ivory Coast, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Madrid, Cornwall and California, and enabled him, helium said, to conscionable a formed of breathtaking characters. “There are astir 900,000 miles of specified cables nether the ocean, and these transmit 95% of each planetary information traffic,” helium said.
Undersea cables, helium said, soon besides started becoming a geopolitical flashpoint.”It seemed similar suddenly, determination were a big of atrocious actors astir the satellite who started to realise that to cripple parts of a country, oregon its economy, oregon corporations, an effectual mode to bash this was to chopped its undersea cables,” helium said, of the geopolitical urgency to the book.
Mr Samanth further emphasised connected however contempt satellites improving, cables would inactive clasp its spot of prominence. “Satellites cannot grip the measurement of Netflix we stream, oregon the Whatsapp messages, emails and galore different things we bash with the internet. For the foreseeable future, cables volition beryllium the mode the satellite astatine ample recieves its internet,” helium added.
The Hindu Lit For Life Unplugged is presented by The all-new Kia Seltos successful relation with CHRIST (Deemed to beryllium University) and NITTE Meenakshi Institute of Technology. Associate Partners are Orchid International School and Akshayakalpa Organic, bookstore spouse is Crossword and venue partner; The Cheroot.
In the tally up to The Hindu Lit For Life connected January 17 and 18, 2026, ticker retired for much events arsenic a portion of Lit for Life Unplugged. Follow @hindulitforlife connected Instagram for much updates.
