Watching this was slightly bittersweet. It reminded me of just how exciting technology was when multimedia computing and the web were taking off.
Maybe I've become cynical with age, but I miss the optimism and feeling of limitless potential that existed around technology at the time.
The four things that come closest to the utopia I imagined are Wikipedia, the Internet Archive and NCBI for information, and HN for discourse; but the vast majority of everything else on the web feels like a cesspool of disinformation, arguments, or profiteering.
I find it hard not to despair when I am reminded of the optimism that used to exist. Has anyone else here experienced this? I would be interested to hear how others have dealt with developing cynical attitudes towards technology.
> I miss the optimism and feeling of limitless potential that existed around technology
Having grown up along with the Internet, I feel this is a common sentiment among those who experienced the early days when things were just getting started. It seems we're losing touch with the vision and culture that gave birth to this technology and made it seem magical, like participating in a collective evolution.
The commercialization of the Internet and the shared space it enables is a symptom of modern social priorities (as a sibling comment pointed out). It's part of the history of colonization of all public space and the public themselves. As one of the "natives", it's hard not to feel cynical about the transformation - but that, at least for me, ties in with a deeper cynicism about society and its values, the direction of culture and civilization.
On a more positive note, there's a kind of generational knowledge transfer, passing the torch: the history, the set of values, the original insights that formed the foundation are all (or much of it) still there, being taught/learned, carried on, elaborated and pursued further. As I get older, I feel more responsibility to play my part, to do what I can in my local sphere of influence. That also opens my eyes to what others are doing in terms of activism and education.
These greener pastures do exist, only they require a bit of knowledge to find and then operate. Places like Diaspora, Friendica, and Mastodon, just to name a few. Interestingly, the same barrier to entry serves as a filter to everyone looking for low hanging fruit... so to folks who are generally capitalists in other ways as well.
I feel the same way. I think this explanation of the transition has been mentioned on HN before:
1) The Internet was created. Early adopters are generally optimistic about its potential to share knowledge and data, and form communities around mutual interests.
2) People begin to realize different ways to create money from this popular new technology, leading to very obvious attempts at creating revenue at some expense of users attention (e.g. advertising), followed by more hidden ways of revenue creation (e.g. selling data).
I also find it hard not to despair. There are still online communities that are still more motivated by communicating and sharing for their own sake (HN included), which I think should be the aspiration of online communities. Most people here have probably just settled into the online communities/blogs that serve these more optimistic goals. The unfortunate thing is that as soon as these communities become relatively popular in any way, other motives start to come to the fore to take advantage of that popularity. As those motives become clear, cynicism is inevitable. It seems to me that you might need something like benevolent community leaders that want to pour their own resources (time and/or money) into online communities without expecting anything in return.
I guess this comment didn't really offer ways to deal with cynicism regarding technology, if anything I justified the cynicism and suggested an option to create communities that would not breed cynicism.
Reminds me of an idea I have been kicking around. I thought it would be nice to build a search engine where the websites are submitted by users instead of a robot.
To prevent spam/commercialization/hostile take over, it could be invite only so you could "trim" off any rotting limbs efficiently.
I also considered black listing all the popular sites to give it a more community feel. I imagine there are thousands of websites out there that cover so many niches that will never appear on google.
One thing I miss about the old web was how personal it felt (or maybe it's rose tinted glasses). Now everything revolves around LCD* and $$$
Maybe you're especially insightful. I was taking Computer Engineering classes in 1990 and I distinctly remember thinking, Why would anyone want to deal with something so complicated and unreliable as digital music files, when radio and CDs worked just fine, were so much simpler to use and sounded better?
What? You could make a case for "comparing apples to baskets that contain apples", maybe. But you may notice that eating an apple and eating an apple that came out of a basket are the same task.
Technology can been something better. But we decided to make these thing rather than something else. Or we created a system that preferred these thing over something else.
So I can not blame technology for what is clearly a human/social priority problem.
I just discovered this amazing documentary about hypertext from 1990, written by Douglas Adams, with Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor Who!) as a Software Agent, and featuring many other amazing people, like Ted Nelson!
>Software Agent: I mean that I'm a Software Agent. I am merely a simulacrum. An artificial and completely customizable personality. And I only exist as what we call an "Application" in your computer. I have the honor to provide instant access to every piece of information stored digitally anywhere in the world. Any picture, or film, any sound, any book, any statistic, any fact. Any connection between anything you care to think of, you have only to tell me, and it will be my humble duty to find it for you and to present it to you for your interactive pleasure. Is there anything I can do for you now, Mister Adams, sir?
>Douglas Adams: Well yes, you can stop being so obsequious, for a start.
>Software Agent: It will be my very great and profound pleasure to be less obsequious, oh Master. I am, as I humbly mentioned to you a moment ago, Fully Customizable. Allow me to present you with my Control Panel.
Oh thanks! Yes, it's quite a bit better quality. The mp4 at that archive.org link[0] is 295 MB, 640x480. The best youtube version (with the given link anyway) is 139 MB, 352x288.
Despite being unable to play it for I don’t know how long, my VHS copy of this is still a prized possession. It was my introduction to Ted Nelson’s ideas as well as a raft of other things and is also a beautiful creation in its own right.
Maybe I've become cynical with age, but I miss the optimism and feeling of limitless potential that existed around technology at the time.
The four things that come closest to the utopia I imagined are Wikipedia, the Internet Archive and NCBI for information, and HN for discourse; but the vast majority of everything else on the web feels like a cesspool of disinformation, arguments, or profiteering.
I find it hard not to despair when I am reminded of the optimism that used to exist. Has anyone else here experienced this? I would be interested to hear how others have dealt with developing cynical attitudes towards technology.