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The internet has become too easy. It was interesting when it required deep technical knowledge just to make it work, that ensured a certain amount of savviness

by return0 11y ago

The internet has become too easy. It was interesting when it required deep technical knowledge just to make it work, that ensured a certain amount of savviness and weirdness among participants. I suggest you try communities that are built around hard-to-understand technologies. There are definitely interesting discussions among scientists, for example, but they 're mostly reserved for face-to-face meetings in conferences. Perhaps the best answer is to build the next big thing yourself.

krapp 11y ago
>The internet has become too easy That's a good thing. The world is an infinitely better place now that any idiot can get onto the internet, and does. A few nerds and greybeards losing their sense of cultural superiority is a price worth paying. Given that there are over a billion people accessing the internet now, there are vastly more savvy and weird people on it than ever before, but it's understandable if that makes it feel less hip to be a part of.
- return0 11y ago
  > That's a good thing I never meant to say that it was a bad thing. OTOH, I think savviness (meant to be elite-level expertise) is a constantly moving goalpost, which means that at any time there is a fixed number of savvy people (which roughly translates to a fixed number of weird people as well). It used to be that they were easy to find on the internet, but nowadays because of the huge crowds they are impossible to find.
- kedean 11y ago
  It's not a good thing OR a bad thing. It's different. The sad thing is that a culture of real sharing (not 'social media' sharing, but actual sharing of knowledge, life experiences, and ideas) has been traded for a place that anyone can find any piece of information they could ever want, and contact any person they could ever want. I think both have very high merit, and can't really be compared. It's not a 'good thing' that we've transitioned from one to the other, it's just a change that the old guard has to deal with.
  - krapp 11y ago
    I think you're discrediting 'social media sharing' a bit too much - that is where people share their actual knowledge, experiences and ideas. Granted, some of those people are my mother and her COPD support group, but social media is not entirely vapid and not to be dismissed for its cultural relevance. Even setting that aside - there are billions of people online, and (quick google) almost a billion websites. That's not a culture, that's a continent. You can't encompass something like that in so simple a narrative.

by return0 11y ago

krapp 11y ago

>The internet has become too easy That's a good thing. The world is an infinitely better place now that any idiot can get onto the internet, and does. A few nerds and greybeards losing their sense of cultural superiority is a price worth paying. Given that there are over a billion people accessing the internet now, there are vastly more savvy and weird people on it than ever before, but it's understandable if that makes it feel less hip to be a part of.

return0 11y ago
> That's a good thing I never meant to say that it was a bad thing. OTOH, I think savviness (meant to be elite-level expertise) is a constantly moving goalpost, which means that at any time there is a fixed number of savvy people (which roughly translates to a fixed number of weird people as well). It used to be that they were easy to find on the internet, but nowadays because of the huge crowds they are impossible to find.
kedean 11y ago
It's not a good thing OR a bad thing. It's different. The sad thing is that a culture of real sharing (not 'social media' sharing, but actual sharing of knowledge, life experiences, and ideas) has been traded for a place that anyone can find any piece of information they could ever want, and contact any person they could ever want. I think both have very high merit, and can't really be compared. It's not a 'good thing' that we've transitioned from one to the other, it's just a change that the old guard has to deal with.
- krapp 11y ago
  I think you're discrediting 'social media sharing' a bit too much - that is where people share their actual knowledge, experiences and ideas. Granted, some of those people are my mother and her COPD support group, but social media is not entirely vapid and not to be dismissed for its cultural relevance. Even setting that aside - there are billions of people online, and (quick google) almost a billion websites. That's not a culture, that's a continent. You can't encompass something like that in so simple a narrative.