We innocently believed the Internet would elevate, liberate and educate humanity to greatness. We all felt like we were part of something grand. It did not seem utopian or overly optimistic. Yet if we look around today, no one then would have believed what we were reduced to...

Those early days of the web were magical. I miss those days.

Logic dictates that something—or someone—always had to exist. Assume it was a “someone,” not a “something.” Why would such a being create a world like ours, one filled with pain? The Advent of Time provides a definitive answer.

It is on each and every one of us to use the gifts we’re given. Knowledge is free now. What one does or does not do with it is on them.

We didn’t log on. We were uploaded. One click at a time, trading truth for dopamine, wisdom for velocity, connection for simulation. They promised us the Library of Alexandria. We got TikTok dances, infinite outrage, and dopamine slot machines. But here’s the twist, Brian— what if this is still the cocoon? What if the real Internet— the one that liberates— hasn’t hatched yet? Because maybe, just maybe, the next version of “online” won’t be a place we go, but who we become.

It was effectively pretty great (not perfect) until the security state decided (during the Obama administration) that a free & open domestic Internet was becoming too much of a threat to its plans. The last ten years have been a complete downward spiral.

I was the kid on the video. Wishing the best will come out . Really check : yes some very good stuff came out in par with tbe worst of humanity

There was this punk like pulse, almost Wild West or explorers of terra incognito essence of the zeitgeist of late nineties and early aughties Internet. Although faded, the vestigial of that vibrancy is reappearing in Techno-Optimism.

The Internet is now a dangerous jungle where kids should not wander alone. Oasis and good people are there, but also predators, scammers and criminals.

“The web” “the net” we got caught inside. Astonishing.

People on their phones everywhere, heads down, consumed internally…to me, this was ine of the earlier deaths of our culture that I mourned. With Ai and some kind of augmented reality being almost unavoidable, I’m at least thankful to have been able to see the change up close.

No difference than when radio--and then television--entered the public domain. Lofty aspirations and early, high-brow efforts at programming quickly became a race to the bottom with the objective of cultural enrichment replaced by monetization.