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I'm going to cease to engage for several reasons: 1) You just flatly contradicted yourself without even realizing it. The top level comment said "The reality i

by mthoms 5y ago

I'm going to cease to engage for several reasons: 1) You just flatly contradicted yourself without even realizing it. The top level comment said "The reality is that the internet was immediately extremely interesting (either useful or fun) for practically everyone who got access.". When challenged, you moved the bar to "Well, it eventually became useful to everyone!". 2) You're condescending "I can see how people in their twenties would fall for this...", "Handwaving", "Shell games". 3) You've got some internal benchmark about what qualifies as useful that appears to mean "if it's not useful to me, then it doesn't count" (see comment about Venezuela). 4) You seem to think of yourself as some kind of gatekeeper or authority on nerddom. I'm not going to change your mind about anything. I've been around the internet long enough to spot people pretending to want genuine engagement when they really despise your ideas and just want to publicly slam dunk on you. Not interested.

knorker 5y ago
That's clearly not what they said. Any of the points. Except condescending. But I can't blame them with the nonsense you're saying.
- mthoms 5y ago
  Tell me then, why does usage in Venezuela (and other countries) as a hedge against hyperinflation not count as real-world positive usage? You can also tell me, as a nerd who has lived through both eras, why my experience doesn't count?
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    Your experience does count. Your anger and seeming intent on winning the arguments no matter what could be tainting or tilting your positioning of your experiences as worse than they were.
pavlov 5y ago
I don’t know what you mean by point 1. The qualifier I used was “everyone who got access”, and I stand by that. Initially only nerds had access and they couldn’t get enough. When access expanded to the general public, they couldn’t get enough either. “You’ve Got Mail” is a 1998 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The internet was completely mainstream just 16 years after the military decided to standardize on IPv4. If there will be a 2024 Hollywood blockbuster called “You’ve Got Bitcoin”, it’s going to be a dark parody of speculation and greed, not a heartwarming tale of how much cryptocurrency helped average people connect with each other.
- mthoms 5y ago
  > The qualifier I used was “everyone who got access”, and I stand by that. Initially only nerds had access and they couldn’t get enough. When access expanded to the general public, they couldn’t get enough either. My whole family had access. And the families of all my friends. They hated it. It was boring and complex. If you mean "everyone who sought access" then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy isn't it? You're either misremembering or engaging in disingenuous word play. >The internet was completely mainstream just 16 years after the military decided to standardize on IPv4. So 16 years is the benchmark? Seems arbitrary (because it is). Bitcoin is 12 years old. When the Internet was about 12, what did Newsweek say? >If there will be a 2024 Hollywood blockbuster called “You’ve Got Bitcoin”, it’s going to be a dark parody of speculation and greed, not a heartwarming tale of how much cryptocurrency helped average people connect with each other. The discussion wasn't whether Crypto is a more important technology than the internet. It was about how clunky and shitty it was at the beginning. Nothing more. Stop trying to "slam dunk" on people.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    There does not appear to be a point in engaging with you. You’re trying to trip up people on technicalities and anal specifics of amt of years as equivalencies for the 2010s and the 80s and 90s. AOL was a bonanza. I didn’t use it but that started getting big enough in the mid 90s. I got on the internet as a kid barely in school in 93-94. It was vast to me. To my older brother, etc. — Your attitude and anger appears to be doing exactly what you’re claiming others are doing. Liken slam dunking on people.

by mthoms 5y ago

knorker 5y ago

That's clearly not what they said. Any of the points. Except condescending. But I can't blame them with the nonsense you're saying.

mthoms 5y ago
Tell me then, why does usage in Venezuela (and other countries) as a hedge against hyperinflation not count as real-world positive usage? You can also tell me, as a nerd who has lived through both eras, why my experience doesn't count?
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  Your experience does count. Your anger and seeming intent on winning the arguments no matter what could be tainting or tilting your positioning of your experiences as worse than they were.

pavlov 5y ago

I don’t know what you mean by point 1. The qualifier I used was “everyone who got access”, and I stand by that. Initially only nerds had access and they couldn’t get enough. When access expanded to the general public, they couldn’t get enough either. “You’ve Got Mail” is a 1998 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The internet was completely mainstream just 16 years after the military decided to standardize on IPv4. If there will be a 2024 Hollywood blockbuster called “You’ve Got Bitcoin”, it’s going to be a dark parody of speculation and greed, not a heartwarming tale of how much cryptocurrency helped average people connect with each other.

mthoms 5y ago
> The qualifier I used was “everyone who got access”, and I stand by that. Initially only nerds had access and they couldn’t get enough. When access expanded to the general public, they couldn’t get enough either. My whole family had access. And the families of all my friends. They hated it. It was boring and complex. If you mean "everyone who sought access" then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy isn't it? You're either misremembering or engaging in disingenuous word play. >The internet was completely mainstream just 16 years after the military decided to standardize on IPv4. So 16 years is the benchmark? Seems arbitrary (because it is). Bitcoin is 12 years old. When the Internet was about 12, what did Newsweek say? >If there will be a 2024 Hollywood blockbuster called “You’ve Got Bitcoin”, it’s going to be a dark parody of speculation and greed, not a heartwarming tale of how much cryptocurrency helped average people connect with each other. The discussion wasn't whether Crypto is a more important technology than the internet. It was about how clunky and shitty it was at the beginning. Nothing more. Stop trying to "slam dunk" on people.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  There does not appear to be a point in engaging with you. You’re trying to trip up people on technicalities and anal specifics of amt of years as equivalencies for the 2010s and the 80s and 90s. AOL was a bonanza. I didn’t use it but that started getting big enough in the mid 90s. I got on the internet as a kid barely in school in 93-94. It was vast to me. To my older brother, etc. — Your attitude and anger appears to be doing exactly what you’re claiming others are doing. Liken slam dunking on people.