Our air traffic controllers can learn from the routers. They are the real beauty of the Internet. Routers reroute information around any system problems or shutdowns. If the traffic is too heavy in New York City, your information may arrive via Philadelphia with some packets arriving via Denver. It's simply a matter of finding the most efficient route.
Physical distance means nothing in cyberspace.
The Internet was developed in 1969 by ARPAnet, the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was designed to allow the Department of Defense and universities to do defense-related research on different computers around the country. It was also specifically designed to survive a nuclear attack that would have cut off normal communications, like telephones. It is self-healing. That means if one part is shut down, the routers reroute traffic around the shut down.