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You have to view things from a bigger timeline. The Internet is only about 25 years old. In the grand span of human history, that is nothing. It's so insignific

You have to view things from a bigger timeline. The Internet is only about 25 years old. In the grand span of human history, that is nothing. It's so insignificant that making final pronouncements about it is really nonsensical. I always go back to the printing press analogy. It took about 50 to 100 years after its invention for serious societal change to start happening: The Reformation, Counter-Reformation, birth of Protestantism, etc. Give it time. Networked communication is just getting started.

DSingularity 6y ago
How does the rate of spread of the Internet compare to that of the printing press? I think the ubiquity of the internet is what makes people comfortable to judge it as if it is mature.
- keiferski 6y ago
  By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. It took roughly 30 or 40 years for the press to be widely distributed around Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_press https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_... > I think the ubiquity of the internet is what makes people comfortable to judge it as if it is mature. Technology isn't going to stay exactly the same indefinitely. It just seems like a complete lack of imagination about the future to me.
inglor_cz 6y ago
Proliferation of the Internet is much faster than that of the printing press, because vast majority of the population is now able to read and write. In the late 1400s, reading books was a fringe activity of a few educated people, mostly priests. People under 30 do not remember the world without Internet anymore; 25 years is a generation. That said, it is really too soon to proclaim any final judgments.
- keiferski 6y ago
  I’m just saying, Bitcoin barely existed a decade ago. YouTube barely existed 15 years ago. Google barely existed 20 years ago. A lot has happened in a very short period of time. It might take awhile to unravel these things.
  - solosoyokaze 6y ago
    The iPhone isn’t even 15 years old. People have cats older than that.
    - MaximumYComb 6y ago
      My work was talking about a 10 year plan yesterday. In the back of my mind I couldn't help but realise that the majority of the population was just getting smart phones 10-11 years ago. My parents didn't know what WiFi was, internet culture was still largely for nerds, etc.
mercer 6y ago
While I agree with other replies to your comment that the internet became prolific/mainstream much faster than the printing press, I think your point still stands when looking at things from the perspective of a human life or culture. We're still the same humans that we were back when things perhaps didn't change as rapidly. Sure, the internet was a lot faster at becoming ubiquitous, but humans are still humans. Our society still needs time to adapt to internet, because 25 years old, as you point out, is really not that much on the scale of a human life or an institution or society.

DSingularity 6y ago

How does the rate of spread of the Internet compare to that of the printing press? I think the ubiquity of the internet is what makes people comfortable to judge it as if it is mature.

keiferski 6y ago
By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. It took roughly 30 or 40 years for the press to be widely distributed around Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_press https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_... > I think the ubiquity of the internet is what makes people comfortable to judge it as if it is mature. Technology isn't going to stay exactly the same indefinitely. It just seems like a complete lack of imagination about the future to me.

inglor_cz 6y ago

Proliferation of the Internet is much faster than that of the printing press, because vast majority of the population is now able to read and write. In the late 1400s, reading books was a fringe activity of a few educated people, mostly priests. People under 30 do not remember the world without Internet anymore; 25 years is a generation. That said, it is really too soon to proclaim any final judgments.

keiferski 6y ago
I’m just saying, Bitcoin barely existed a decade ago. YouTube barely existed 15 years ago. Google barely existed 20 years ago. A lot has happened in a very short period of time. It might take awhile to unravel these things.
- solosoyokaze 6y ago
  The iPhone isn’t even 15 years old. People have cats older than that.
  - MaximumYComb 6y ago
    My work was talking about a 10 year plan yesterday. In the back of my mind I couldn't help but realise that the majority of the population was just getting smart phones 10-11 years ago. My parents didn't know what WiFi was, internet culture was still largely for nerds, etc.

mercer 6y ago

While I agree with other replies to your comment that the internet became prolific/mainstream much faster than the printing press, I think your point still stands when looking at things from the perspective of a human life or culture. We're still the same humans that we were back when things perhaps didn't change as rapidly. Sure, the internet was a lot faster at becoming ubiquitous, but humans are still humans. Our society still needs time to adapt to internet, because 25 years old, as you point out, is really not that much on the scale of a human life or an institution or society.