LISTEN UP, EVERYBODY!
At the time of this writing, we are now a full decade into the web revival. Yet most of the ignorant masses still believe that the Internet consists entirely of the same four websites on their phones, with their algorithmically designed whozits, zero customization options, and most importantly, the lack of any freedom whatsoever.
The point I'm trying to make here is that that part of the Web has been taken over by corporate entities so powerful that, let's face it, they wield the real power. And I ask you, my brethren and countrymen, do we make the web revival known to the ignorant masses?
I'm thinking we shouldn't, just because the sooner something becomes "popular," the sooner the corporations get hold of it.
I thought of a clever analogy to describe what's going on here, which was about Route 66, the American transcontinental byway going from Chicago to Los Angeles, which, if you know anything about U.S. geography, is quite a ways. It was quite an iconic road, and people would travel the whole thing just to say they "got their kicks on Route 66."
Then, in the late 1980s, at a time when anything old was considered worthless, Route 66 was paved over by miles and miles of interstate highways that made it look like a bike trail. And yet, there still remains a dedicated cult of motorists who travel the back roads that remain of Route 66, making drastic customizations to their cars in order to do so.
So if the Internet is indeed the "Information Superhighway," then these little websites we're making up are the back roads, and we are that dedicated cult of motorists. :)
But there is a larger issue at stake here, which is that the free, open web of yore ultimately killed the mundane, stultifying, bourgeois, and homogeneous society that my generation had to suffer under for so long, because we all watched the same TV shows, listened to the same music, wore the same clothes, etc., etc., and those of us who dared to nonconform were branded as hippies, commies, meatheads, pinkos, and freaks. The Internet, therefore, was a sanctuary for some of us, and now I fear it's going to turn on us the same way cable TV did.
Perhaps I've got some explaining to do. There used to be an incredible variety of stuff on cable. I'm not just talking about MTV and Nickelodeon here. There was a lot more stuff that could advance the frontiers of human understanding on a variety of topics, like the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet, back when those didn't suck. There was also cable access, if you thought you could put on a show yourself.
So it came to pass that everybody had cable, and pretty soon the cable networks felt no incentive to produce quality programming. Now it is all a bunch of "reality" shows, with commercials. So I guess now that everybody and their brother is on the Internet, it has become more of a part of mainstream culture.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to gatekeep here. I think the Internet is a wonderful thing, and in fact the Geneva Conventions or whoever has declared that access to it is a human right. I just worry what'll happen if it becomes more centralized, that's all. I used to always wonder what would happen if the Internet shut down, just for a day. Then I realized, first of all, it was so big that no one person could shut the whole thing down, and second, if that could happen, it would bring about utter widespread global chaos, like the Y2K disaster (remember?), only this time it would be real. And I'm also just saying that the Internet is a technology, and like all technologies, it is a tool, and it can be used for good or for ill. Thank you for your time.