What you *really* use are binary digits represented as electronic signal levels on various types of wires and radio transmissions, but we don't make users modulate those manually, either.
And what about all the load balancing and fault tolerance that come from allowing a host name to resolve to multiple addresses and changing the mappings on the fly?
Names are more than just a way to make things user-friendly, they're an important piece of the Internet architecture. I don't think there's ever been a network of more than a few dozen machines that didn't depend on a naming scheme to enhance the capabilities.
Consider this: how useful would the phone be if you could only call people whose phone numbers you already knew, i.e. there were no phone books or directory assistance?
Barry Margolin, snipped-for-privacy@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA
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