4 ms·

I don't think this is a very difficult question to answer. The internet of the year 2000 made the world a better place. The internet of the year 2025 makes the

I don't think this is a very difficult question to answer. The internet of the year 2000 made the world a better place. The internet of the year 2025 makes the world a much, much worse place. We now live in an era where not only governments but every private business willing to pay a data broker has access to unlimited data for roughly every individual in a population, including their age, gender, occupation, hobbies, friends, political positions, sleep schedule, every phone call they've ever made, every website they've ever visited, every location they've ever taken their phone, every thing they've ever purchased. This information is currently used to shape the course of politics by manipulating what every individual sees, and will undoubtedly be used for unthinkable crimes against humanity in the coming years.

quietsegfault 10mo ago
I'm not sure that's the /internet/'s fault, but the humanities inability to anticipate what we can do with the technology and our inability to regulate the technology to prevent harms.
- georgemcbay 10mo ago
  > humanities inability to anticipate what we can do with the technology I think it is more a problem of not caring (especially when not caring will result in social and/or economic reward) rather than not anticipating. For any technology that is created you can and should anticipate that it will be, literally, weaponized since there are hundreds of thousands of years of precedent for this happening.
- immibis 10mo ago
  We - technologists - mocked the humanities for decades for being useless. Now look where we got without them.
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]
  - aleph_minus_one 10mo ago
    > We - technologists - mocked the humanities for decades for being useless. Now look where we got without them. A lot of programmers were very critical how in particular since the release of the iPhone people suddenly accepted the golden cage against which programmers before very aggressively fought. So the issue is rather that people did not listen to these old-school programmers, (as usual) mocked these as nerds, and instead listened to "hipsters" and marketers. One can discuss a lot how useful humanities are, but what brought us in the current situation is rather that the masses did not listen to the old-school programmers.
  - quietsegfault 10mo ago
    Ha ha - I meant "humanity's", not "the humanities". Stupid autocorrect! I blame the internet.
SoftTalker 10mo ago
> The internet of the year 2000 made the world a better place How so? Because we could send mail instantly instead of using a stamp and envelope? Because we could buy stuff without leaving the house? Because we could read/listen to/watch stuff without paying the people who created it?
- anonymous908213 10mo ago
  For many reasons, but if I had to pick one for brevity: because there was unprecedented access to educational information, allowing anyone to learn about the world and develop skills that would typically have required a university education. Of course, even that has been corrupted, and now while the information still exists it is drowned out by orders of magnitude more misinformation. That's not to say that the internet in 2000 was without flaws, but I do think on net it was beneficial to humanity.
- 1bpp 10mo ago
  Yes. The current generation of creatives could not exist as it is without free information and pirated professional software.
- torben-friis 10mo ago
  >Because we could read/listen to/watch stuff without paying the people who created it? I can tell you I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am without this, yes. First because I (/my parents) didn’t have the money, second because of pure geographical access. I saw movies and shows from countries that would never sell near me, read books that would never be in my country’s libraries, took courses straight from scientists and engineers rather than a thrice translated work… The barrier of entry was also useful, curiosity is much better fed when you can download a medicine textbook just to check rather than venturing into the library of a university you’re not part of. That is the one thing the internet did right, spreading culture. It was over when they took boredom from us, that was the big evil.
  - anthk 10mo ago
    Ditto here in Spain. If you were able to watch Northern Exposure or The X Files with the Spanish dub in the 90's with a normal TV schedule (read: with human schedules, you need to sleep), I would ask you a unicorn just in case, because I woudn't believe you. After 2003 with Emule and BT? Damn it, I've got whole NE series over torrent and I regret nil. My public TV already paid the US TV producer with money from our taxes, so in the end it's a draw. Programming books? Your elder brother/sister it's doing CS at some uni, right? Then, good luck paying $50 on big book stores from malls. Entry courses you mean? Pay ~$50 a month for a private school and try enjoying Visual C++ 98. Linux? That's was for CS engineers and PC freaks right? Nowadays you can learn damn Calculus on your own and install Maxima from any distro with online guides and tutorials. I had to learn Calculus from my own (I was some HS dropout) early Debian DVD's which had a PDF on Mathematics and from that I tried to understand every exercise and equation under Maxima. No upgrades, no updates, no tutoring. Hard mode my default for everything. Your TV tuner didn't work? Messing with Linux kernel modules like crazy and even editing the source code to fake the tuner and PLL and watch something in XawTV.
deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
Terr_ 10mo ago
Feels of 1995: "A personal computer and an internet connection are democratically-cheap pieces of capital-equipment than you can use to accomplish the goals that matter to you! Vast new realms of agency and autonomy! If you don't like it, make your own!" Feels of 2025: "The device in your pocket is a way for companies to make you see the things they want you to see and nothing else you dirty criminal. You can talk to your friends but if your GPS trace is interrupted your account will be suspended. If you don't like it, sucks to be you."
idiotsecant 10mo ago
The internet of 2025 isn't the same thing at all. The early internet was a toy - a place for deviants and weirdos to do weird deviant things (and it was glorious). The rest of humanity found it and turned it into a mirror of the real world. That doesn't make it bad, in some ways it makes it better, in some ways worse, just definitely different.
- anthk 10mo ago
  Early internet was just a world of academics, scientists, engineers and maybe on the very early web and IRC, journalists.

quietsegfault 10mo ago

I'm not sure that's the /internet/'s fault, but the humanities inability to anticipate what we can do with the technology and our inability to regulate the technology to prevent harms.

georgemcbay 10mo ago
> humanities inability to anticipate what we can do with the technology I think it is more a problem of not caring (especially when not caring will result in social and/or economic reward) rather than not anticipating. For any technology that is created you can and should anticipate that it will be, literally, weaponized since there are hundreds of thousands of years of precedent for this happening.
immibis 10mo ago
We - technologists - mocked the humanities for decades for being useless. Now look where we got without them.
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]
- aleph_minus_one 10mo ago
  > We - technologists - mocked the humanities for decades for being useless. Now look where we got without them. A lot of programmers were very critical how in particular since the release of the iPhone people suddenly accepted the golden cage against which programmers before very aggressively fought. So the issue is rather that people did not listen to these old-school programmers, (as usual) mocked these as nerds, and instead listened to "hipsters" and marketers. One can discuss a lot how useful humanities are, but what brought us in the current situation is rather that the masses did not listen to the old-school programmers.
- quietsegfault 10mo ago
  Ha ha - I meant "humanity's", not "the humanities". Stupid autocorrect! I blame the internet.

SoftTalker 10mo ago

> The internet of the year 2000 made the world a better place How so? Because we could send mail instantly instead of using a stamp and envelope? Because we could buy stuff without leaving the house? Because we could read/listen to/watch stuff without paying the people who created it?

anonymous908213 10mo ago
For many reasons, but if I had to pick one for brevity: because there was unprecedented access to educational information, allowing anyone to learn about the world and develop skills that would typically have required a university education. Of course, even that has been corrupted, and now while the information still exists it is drowned out by orders of magnitude more misinformation. That's not to say that the internet in 2000 was without flaws, but I do think on net it was beneficial to humanity.
1bpp 10mo ago
Yes. The current generation of creatives could not exist as it is without free information and pirated professional software.
torben-friis 10mo ago
>Because we could read/listen to/watch stuff without paying the people who created it? I can tell you I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am without this, yes. First because I (/my parents) didn’t have the money, second because of pure geographical access. I saw movies and shows from countries that would never sell near me, read books that would never be in my country’s libraries, took courses straight from scientists and engineers rather than a thrice translated work… The barrier of entry was also useful, curiosity is much better fed when you can download a medicine textbook just to check rather than venturing into the library of a university you’re not part of. That is the one thing the internet did right, spreading culture. It was over when they took boredom from us, that was the big evil.
- anthk 10mo ago
  Ditto here in Spain. If you were able to watch Northern Exposure or The X Files with the Spanish dub in the 90's with a normal TV schedule (read: with human schedules, you need to sleep), I would ask you a unicorn just in case, because I woudn't believe you. After 2003 with Emule and BT? Damn it, I've got whole NE series over torrent and I regret nil. My public TV already paid the US TV producer with money from our taxes, so in the end it's a draw. Programming books? Your elder brother/sister it's doing CS at some uni, right? Then, good luck paying $50 on big book stores from malls. Entry courses you mean? Pay ~$50 a month for a private school and try enjoying Visual C++ 98. Linux? That's was for CS engineers and PC freaks right? Nowadays you can learn damn Calculus on your own and install Maxima from any distro with online guides and tutorials. I had to learn Calculus from my own (I was some HS dropout) early Debian DVD's which had a PDF on Mathematics and from that I tried to understand every exercise and equation under Maxima. No upgrades, no updates, no tutoring. Hard mode my default for everything. Your TV tuner didn't work? Messing with Linux kernel modules like crazy and even editing the source code to fake the tuner and PLL and watch something in XawTV.

deleted 10mo ago

[deleted]

Terr_ 10mo ago

Feels of 1995: "A personal computer and an internet connection are democratically-cheap pieces of capital-equipment than you can use to accomplish the goals that matter to you! Vast new realms of agency and autonomy! If you don't like it, make your own!" Feels of 2025: "The device in your pocket is a way for companies to make you see the things they want you to see and nothing else you dirty criminal. You can talk to your friends but if your GPS trace is interrupted your account will be suspended. If you don't like it, sucks to be you."

idiotsecant 10mo ago

The internet of 2025 isn't the same thing at all. The early internet was a toy - a place for deviants and weirdos to do weird deviant things (and it was glorious). The rest of humanity found it and turned it into a mirror of the real world. That doesn't make it bad, in some ways it makes it better, in some ways worse, just definitely different.

anthk 10mo ago
Early internet was just a world of academics, scientists, engineers and maybe on the very early web and IRC, journalists.