I have two electronic-mail addresses: ranko.bon@alum.mit.edu and rankobon7@gmail.com. In addition, I own two websites: www.residua.org and www.cabongallery.org. On top of that, two links on the first of my sites are connected to two additional sites that are close to me: www.rankobot.com and www.herefordsalon.org. From day to day I visit a number of sites, but one of them I visit quite a number of times every single day: www.gmail.com. Most of my friends and acquaintances have electronic-mail addresses on this site. In short, I am very well connected with the World Wide Web that goes back to the end of the last millennium. And I mention it with unbridled enthusiasm in my writings over and over again. In my own life, it spells freedom in many different guises.

How much do I know about the web, though? Not to beat around the bush, I know next to nothing about this vaunted marvel of information technology. How large is it? How interconnected is it? And how easy is it to reach its edges? Whenever I search the web in an attempt to come to grips with questions such as these, I give up soon enough on account of the gibberish I stumble upon. Loads upon loads of gibberish, to be sure. The most puzzling questions pertain to those parts of the web that are known as “deep” and “dark,” which are supposed to be enormous in size, as well as much larger than the web available to all. Obviously, they are far from secret to quite a number of humans, but they are still unreachable to most. Even though it is of recent vintage, the web as a whole is unfathomable to the great majority of its regular users.

But why am I interested in all of the above? Because I believe that the web is a formidable mirror of the human species, including its deep and dark sides (“Collective Shame,” April 12, 2015). In my mind, every effort should thus be made to understand the web in its entirety, for it will tell a great deal about the species behind it. A proper map of the web would expose a great deal that remains hidden to most of its users, including the prominence of gambling, pornography, prostitution, and organized crime in human affairs irrespective of nationality, race, or religion. At long last, the blessed mirror would be available to all! With some luck, this would help the human species see itself in plain light at long last. And that could help it mend its ways in the future. Always an optimist, I would be happy to replace “could” in the previous sentence with a boisterous “would.” Hooray!