Internet as we know today, emerged from ARPANET, which was a research network made by the US DoD. Technologies like TCP/IP formed the basis of ARPANET, being the the first network to use IP based communication.
ARPANET was eventually dissolved, but new networks were formed and with growing ideas and technology, The Internet was born.
People to this date are reminiscent about the days of the dot-com bubble which was a period of rapid internet growth.