Final answer:
The Internet was originally created to facilitate shareable communication for military and academic purposes through networks like ARPANET, evolving into a global platform for a variety of social and economic functions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Origins of the Internet
The original use of the Internet was not as a social forum for college students, nor was it designed for mega-companies to design and manipulate its data. The Internet began as a collaborative military and academic effort to create a communication network to share information. One of the first networks to precede the Internet was ARPANET, which aimed to connect government facilities and research institutions for official communications. This network evolved over time, incorporating technologies from different projects and ideas from visionaries like JCR Licklider who proposed the "Intergalactic Computer Network". With the standardization of communication protocols in 1982, the Internet as we know it was born.
Initially, military and government use were predominant, with occasional personal communications between researchers being allowed. However, commercial and political uses were strictly prohibited. As the capabilities of the Internet expanded, particularly with the advent of the World Wide Web, designed to host interlinked hypertext web pages, the Internet's applications grew to include a variety of social and economic functions.
By the 1990s, the Internet had grown to include thousands of hosts, and service providers like America Online serviced as gateways to the expanding web. The rapid increase in connectivity allowed for the creation of the first websites, search engines, and commercial platforms, propelling us into the era of global connectivity and social media.
Therefore, it can be stated that the Internet's first function was to facilitate shareable and resilient communication for military and academic purposes, rather than the aforementioned options.