AIM/MSN/Yahoo chatrooms. GeoCities. Neopets. Limewire, KaZaa, listening to Art Bell on the radio next to you while you search for the latest alien news and read ancient texts. Webrings. Message boards. NSA hadn’t partnered with Microsoft for the first version of PRISM.
It was more decentralized, but even in the centralized parts there weren’t yet entire industries dedicated to stealing every last bit of dopamine from you to sell to the highest bidder.
It was and it can still be, that’s why we are here. It will never be the same, we lost some amazing opportunities but we still need that connection, we still want to learn and build together. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but at least as some of us want to try, this time being mindful of the corporate capture risk, we can do better and that’s exciting!
AIM/MSN/Yahoo chatrooms. GeoCities. Neopets. Limewire, KaZaa, listening to Art Bell on the radio next to you while you search for the latest alien news and read ancient texts. Webrings. Message boards. NSA hadn’t partnered with Microsoft for the first version of PRISM.
It was more decentralized, but even in the centralized parts there weren’t yet entire industries dedicated to stealing every last bit of dopamine from you to sell to the highest bidder.
It was an amazing time. RIP 1985-2010
It was and it can still be, that’s why we are here. It will never be the same, we lost some amazing opportunities but we still need that connection, we still want to learn and build together. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but at least as some of us want to try, this time being mindful of the corporate capture risk, we can do better and that’s exciting!