The Wired
The Wired is an internet-like communication system used by the majority of the Lain cast.
"There is the world around us, a world of people, tactile sensation, and culture. There is the wired world, inside a computer, of images, personalities, virtual experiences, and a culture all of its own."
The Wired is "...An advanced form of communication." where people all around the world link to share thoughts, conversation, play games, and socialize. It has become such a meaningful and useful tool in modern society that modern society would almost cease to function without it. I guess you could call it a 'religion' of sorts, as people tend to worship it giving the Wired top priority in their daily lives. Many older citizens of society feel that there is a danger to the Wired. It, while being a very useful tool for life, can also become an obsession to those who do not secure themselves in the reality that no matter how real the Wired may be the true world will always be more real. (Source )
Protocols
The Wired is assumed to have run mainly with the IPv6. This technology gives the possibility to project yourself into the Wired, to have your own version of yourself in it. The Psyche, a NAVI add-on, is essential to use this function as its fullest.
The Protocols are elaborated by Tachibana General Laboratories.
During the series, we discover the slow establishment of the new protocol, the IPv7. The IPv7 was tampered by Masami Eiri who embedded the possibility to upload human mind into the Wired.
Virtual Reality
.png){kind=link}
With the use of the Psyche or other advanced technologies, some users have been able to project themselves within The Wired. They can communicate with each other through their persona.
The Wired is representing as a surrealist world most of the time in a black void surrounding. Most of the users aren't able to show their entire physical form, and as a result they take alternative form. A few times during the series, The Wired shows a perfect representation of a place in the real world.
Sites of note
- mebious.co.uk, the only URL explicitly shown in the anime
- The unnamed base of the Knights of the Eastern Calculus
- PHANTOMa, a MMORPG popular with children that is the center of the KIDS project, which was designed as a result of Professor Hodgeson's research.