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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] OT: /u/bozarkin on what happened to the internet (voat.co)
  • Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 00:31:07 -0400

/u/bozarkin on what happened to the internet (voat.co)
https://voat.co/v/KotakuInAction/comments/525245/2504146
[–] bozarkin 148 points (+148|-0) 4 days ago

The internet started out with lots of educated, tech-enthusiasts that knew
the value of free speech, free flow of ideas and that transparency is for
those in power while privacy is for those who are not. You can look up the
old hacker's creeds based on this philosophy and the countless hours of
work that went into GNU licensed code that slowly built the infrastructure
of the web. It's a myth that these were all white, cis males. A majority
had Asian or Indian roots or were Jewish. It was an open minded crowd that
shunned both the extremist left and extremist right, as well as other
extremist ideologies such as radical religions and cults. It seemed like
the enlightenment had reached its pinnacle. Rationality prevailed. And it
was easy to defend against the constant onslaughts of feel-think given that
unfiltered information was freely available and open.

Wikipedia once was part of that movement of sharing code and ideas - making
sure that there is no pay wall that excludes those who seek information
from obtaining wisdom. It was part of the idea of democratic system of
discussion and balance of power that forms the basis of meritocracy and
powerful common sense.

Then, mobile happened. Email happened. The commercial internet happened.
The tech crowd now is the minority. And so are their old ideals. People go
online now to shop rather than to enjoy free things. People go online now
to reinforce their beliefs rather than to challenge them by listening to
pluralistic perspectives. People go online now to get brief emotional kicks
in the form of moral outrage and puppy pics. Following the law of large
numbers, the average IQ has regressed to the mean.

And as some people tried to hold out in some corners of the web, trying to
hang on to the good old days, they became a thorn in the eye of those who
never liked the idea that the century of ideologies is over. The same kind
of people who previously rallied behind religious leaders, fascists and
communists - people who like to think of themselves as chosen to fight an
important fight against their peers, that justifies any means -
authoritarian, anti-democratic, extrmist ideologues now attack any
opportunity of free speech they can find. And just like religion, fascism
and communism - it is all in the name of moral superiority and enwrapped in
unquestionable social norms.

Never mind the logical inconsistencies - Angela Merkel on the cover of a
German magazine as "Mother Theresa", put on there by the same people who
struggle with the anti-abortion special interest groups that are funded by
donations to "that Catholic saint" - it's feel-goody time for the unwashed
masses. And a free marketplace of ideas is in the way of the little cost of
submitting their intellectual capacities and instinctual skepticism "to the
greater good" and the small groups of anointed leaders that play the good
old Machiavellian games of power-grab, bullying and campaigning. These
people are a serious threat, and it seems like they are winning battle
after battle.

However, the war between reason and muddled, emotional thought is a long
one. And it has a very clear trend leaning towards the side of freedom,
appreciation of facts, justice in the form of true equality and common
sense. Because reality is on the side of those who do not deny its powerful
force of harshly sorting truths from fiction.

In the long run, truth always wins.

--
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/



  • [permaculture] OT: /u/bozarkin on what happened to the internet (voat.co), Lawrence London, 09/24/2015

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