This reminded me of moxie's recent post about whether we've put the glasses from They Live on or taken them off[0].
In terms of the internet as a failed utopia, it seems to comes down to the choices we all make in deciding this for ourselves: what we participate in, what we work on, how we choose to spend our time, and especially whether or not we work to build positive alternatives.
It can be a useful exercise to ask oneself whether the work they're doing helps to control others or whether it positively enables people to live in the world they want to live in, and one way to respond to these types of concerns is for people to focus on building that world.
Sometimes that's the harder path, but sometimes the harder path is worth choosing.
In terms of the internet as a failed utopia, it seems to comes down to the choices we all make in deciding this for ourselves: what we participate in, what we work on, how we choose to spend our time, and especially whether or not we work to build positive alternatives.
It can be a useful exercise to ask oneself whether the work they're doing helps to control others or whether it positively enables people to live in the world they want to live in, and one way to respond to these types of concerns is for people to focus on building that world.
Sometimes that's the harder path, but sometimes the harder path is worth choosing.
[0] https://whispersystems.org/blog/they-live/