If you consider A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace as singularly representative of the zeitgeist "back then"... Yes, everyone was stupid, in the sa

If you consider A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace as singularly representative of the zeitgeist "back then"... Yes, everyone was stupid, in the same manner that love can be stupid. Humanity never gave up on love, and I hope it never gives up on starry-eyed idealism; it can lead to dogmatic and authoritarian horrors, but some of the ideals may enhance the fabric of society and make it a little less savage. Less of the former and more of the latter, please, if possible. The process is slow and uneven, and personally, I'm not too hopeful, but I still prefer faint hope to unrelenting cynicism. (What's strange about A Declaration... is that it came a decade after Neuromancer and two years after Eternal September. You may choose to doubt the predictive power of dystopian fiction, but the reality check of the influx of participants outside of the pretty exclusive early-internet club should be much harder to overlook. That document managed to disregard both. It was strangely anachronistic even at the moment.)