When I say that the internet is like the ocean, some people like it and some people don't. 

The internet is like the ocean in that it's full of interesting life-forms and it's essential to our future -- even though I can't prove empirically that it's essential, I'm confident that it is. 

But it's unlike the ocean in that the attention and actions of people created it, step by incremental step.  It's made up of deeply human interactions and interests.

It's like the ocean in that there are many self-owned entities floating around -- like walled gardens or corporate VPNs.  We don't have equivalent access to these life-forms.

But it's unlike the ocean in that these self-owned entities have connections to real-world people, who can be found in particular chairs in particular basements.

It's like the ocean in that it shifts and changes constantly.  Just as you can never step into the same river twice, you can never log on to the same internet from one day to another.

But it's unlike the ocean in that we can identify and perceive as static (even if that's not the case) resources that we can return to.  We can't capture a wave on the sand, but we can get feeds from all of our blogger friends.

Some may find the metaphor of the ocean unnerving and unduly reified.  The internet isn't a place apart, they murmur.  It's just a computer network.  If you find yourself feeling this way, just think of fish as reflecting human desires.  Then you'll have the picture of the internet-as-ocean.  For what it's worth, I have the strong sense that reframing the internet policy discussion to focus on the interactive/persistent newness of the network-above-the-substrate is a worthwhile enterprise.  I'm going to keep talking about the ocean, but if someone has a better word/image that captures the human contribution to this network of networks, I'm all ears.