With a depth of approximately 7 miles (11.3 km), the Marianas Trench is the deepest oceanic
trench in the world.
So much remains unknown about it, and scientists are still studying what dwells in its dark
depths.
How is this trench related to the high-tech world of the Internet?
Well, the deepest part of the Internet is named after it.
In the past few years, Marianas Web has captured the interest of everyday computer users and
computer experts alike.
Today, we will explore the facts and rumors surrounding this mysterious part of the Internet,
in this episode of The Infographics Show, “Marianas Web – The Scariest Part of the
Internet?”
Marianas Web became widely known because of an “iceberg” infographic that spread across
the Internet.
This infographic divides the Internet into different levels ranging from Level 0 or the
“Common Web” that most of us are familiar with, to several other hidden levels.
Marianas Web is identified as Level 5, the most hidden level of the Internet, but the
infographic does not list examples of what is in Marianas Web as it does for the other
levels.
Instead, there is a cryptic one-line message with offensive language that is not worth
repeating.
The presence of Marianas Web on this iceberg infographic seems to be the only fact about
it that can be verified.
The dubious infographic further hints at a major problem that you face when you try to
learn more about Marianas Web: Most of what is known about it is based on rumors.
Some of the rumors are scary, and some of them are not.
Here are some of the prevailing ones:
Rumor 1: Marianas Web is deeper and darker than the Dark Web.
To understand this rumor, you have to understand what the Dark Web is.
The Dark Web is a small subsection of the Deep Web, which is a part of the Internet
that is hidden from public view.
Websites on the Deep Web and the Dark Web are part of an encrypted network, so they
cannot be found with commercial search engines such as Google or Bing.
They also cannot be viewed with common browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
You need a special browser such as Tor to access websites on the Deep Web and the Dark
Web, and Tor allows you to view them anonymously.
Recently, the Dark Web has gained media attention as the home of shady, nefarious websites such
as the notorious Silk Road black market site that was shut down by the FBI in 2013.
The Dark Web’s bad reputation has led people to jump to conclusions about Marianas Web.
If the Dark Web attracts contract killers, drug dealers, and worse, what horrors does
Marianas Web contain if it is even deeper than the Dark Web?
Several possibilities appear in other rumors.
Rumor 2: An artificial intelligence (AI) system exists in Marianas Web.
Move over Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
There’s a new AI system in town, and she lives in Marianas Web.
There is even a possibility that Marianas Web is the AI.
She is bigger and more powerful than Hal and supposedly monitors and controls information
on the entire Internet.
Just wait until she becomes sentient.
Hello Skynet!
Rumor 3: It contains some of humankind’s darkest secrets.
This rumor presents the possibility that Marianas Web is a digital library of X-files.
Are you a historian looking for some obscure facts about the first Pope of Rome?
The Vatican Secret Archives are supposedly in there.
Do you want to find out where Atlantis is?
Its location is supposedly in there.
Do you want to read up on that Russian spy that lived next door to you ten years ago?
An intelligence agency archive database is supposedly in there.
Getting in Marianas Web is not easy, however, which we will discuss in the next rumor.
Rumor 4: It is the most inaccessible part of the Internet.
You can’t use Tor to visit Marianas Web.
Accessing Marianas Web is more complicated than that.
According to this rumor, you must calculate a complex algorithm called the Polymeric Falcighol
Derivation.
There is some doubt that this algorithm is actually real, and you may be stuck with the
impossible task of computing something that does not exist.
In addition, you can’t make this calculation on just any computer.
You need a quantum computer, which is new technology that is not widely available to
the public.
There is a good reason for this lack of public availability.
Currently, quantum computers need some extreme conditions to function properly.
For instance, the processor of a D-Wave 2000Q quantum computer can run only in a high vacuum
environment.
The pressure of this vacuum must be “10 billion times lower than the Earth’s atmosphere”
according to one source.
Unless your home includes a climate-controlled room that can maintain environmental conditions
reminiscent of outer space, you are out of luck.
Because of their special requirements, quantum computers are owned mainly by government entities.
This means that a few select people working for these government entities are probably
the only ones who have access to Marianas Web.
They can access it, that is, if it actually exists, which leads us to our next rumor.
Rumor 5: Marianas Web is a purposely fabricated invention.
This rumor sounds like something from a techno-thriller movie.
Under the cover of anonymity, some hackers claim that they invented Marianas Web because
they were being blackmailed by the FBI.
The FBI needed them to create a distraction that would take attention away from its shutdowns
of various black markets on the Dark Web.
Since these claims are anecdotal information from anonymous sources, we cannot say with
certainty that they are true.
What we can say with certainty is that Marianas Web remains a strange unsolved Internet mystery.
Much has been written about it, but few people (or perhaps none) have actually seen it.
There is no concrete evidence that clearly proves or disproves its existence.
And, depending on which rumors you believe, it may be the most or least scary part of
the Internet.
Do you think Marianas Web is real?
Let us know in the comments!
Also be sure to check out our other video called Illegal Things You Do Every Day.
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!