I think of the Internet as a subculture, like a music scene: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths It sta

I think of the Internet as a subculture, like a music scene: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths It started with geeks working in labs doing cool shit with computers on government grants. They figured out the technical aspects. This is circa 1980 and earlier. Then came the early adopters. They recognized the potential and wanted nothing more than to do cool shit with computers, and so they did. They used the technology invented by the geeks with the same spirit of the geeks, for they themselves were geeks. This was circa 1990. Next came the mops. They saw early adopters and geeks doing cool shit, and wanted to do cool shit too, but they lacked the wherewithal to do it. But they stuck around because they were happy enough to watch others while they did cool shit. This was circa 2000. Next came the sociopaths, who said things like "They trust me — dumb fucks". And that was it, that was the beginning of the end. Once the sociopaths came on the scene, everything good about the scene was done. No longer was the scene about doing and watching cool things; it was about sociopaths extracting value from "dumb fucks" who didn't know any better, and there were plenty of them at that point. The geeks were powerless to stop them - the technology was well thought-out and commoditized. Other geeks were then in the employ of sociopaths, executing their will. This was circa 2010. And really, at this point the sociopaths control so much of the space (as they always end up doing, because that's what they aim to do and no one tries to stop them) that they can just pay geeks to reshape their creation in the sociopath's image (see Web 3.0). This is where we are now. What usually happens at this point is a long, slow decline of the scene as the sociopaths take over and wage a scorched-earth campaign in search of profits. Everything is monetized to the hilt until there's nothing left. If at any point there is an aspect that remains unexploited, it will soon be exploited by a waiting sociopath. This is the future of the Internet. That's my theory at least. The Internet is user hostile because the people who own the biggest chunks of the Internet really do view you as a "dumb fuck" that deserves to be exploited.