In 1982, a physics joke gone wrong sparked the invention of the emoticon

Ars Technica
By Benj EdwardsNov 20, 2025, 7:00 am230 ptsTrending
On September 19, 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer science research assistant professor Scott Fahlman posted a message to the university’s bulletin board software that would later come to shape how people communicate online. His proposal: use :-) and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious…

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