The Internet was dream once, back when giant telcos ran circuit switched copper line monopolies. It remains a dream today - unfinished work we still have not re

The Internet was dream once, back when giant telcos ran circuit switched copper line monopolies. It remains a dream today - unfinished work we still have not realised. Because it's not a thing, it's a social project. There's a line in "Leave the world behind" [0] where Rose says about Friends that it's feel is "nostalgic for a world that never happened" It's called "anemoia" [1] It's many things. One is that it's a way of expressing latent values that don't fit into the current culture. "Small fish have no place to go" is a comment on a perceived reality that misses (and so reveals) two important points; the Internet didn't change [2], people did. It's not a place you go, it's a thing you do and the attitude you bring to that. But ultimately the Internet is nothing but people connected by wires. People have moods we call "culture". Back then it was unbelievably optimistic and giddy. People wanted to reach out. Everything was ripe with possibility and fun. The OP is justified to wonder what it was like to live then. Now we know what kind of things are at the other end of that wire and it feels more like a dark forest. It's more than that people like me "just get older", the culture has palpably changed for the worse. Climate change maybe. It's become objectively more pessimistic and neurotic. Sure there's a few hold-outs, but that takes a lot of Prozac to keep up. Anyway, the future of the Internet is all about "small fish". That's all it's ever been about. [0] book: Rumaan Alam screen: Sam Esmail [1] https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/anemoia-nostalgia https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/anemoia-nostalgi... [2] Of course the Internet did change technically, it got much bigger, faster, cheaper, more reliable etc.