Let's Make the Web Weird Again [audio]

Post by wyre » Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 10:30 AM UTC

TonyTrapp wrote: post #5

echelon wrote: post #3

> "You must enable DRM to play some audio or video on this page" No. No no no no no. This isn't right. The modern Internet is such sellout. It didn't turn out anything like what I'd hoped. Bittorrent, semantic tagging, RSS, decentralized aggregation. Ownership . All dead or dying. These companies are all gobbling up the commons and pushing us into serfdom. Apple, Google, the RIAA. The whole lot of them have poached a…

I often wonder how much time it will take for the scenario you described to collapse. Once computer systems become completely closed and programming becomes unavailable to the lowly user, how are new skilled people going to find their way into the system? Will it die when the last developers of the system retire?

Post by mettamage » Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 10:41 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #3

> "You must enable DRM to play some audio or video on this page" No. No no no no no. This isn't right. The modern Internet is such sellout. It didn't turn out anything like what I'd hoped. Bittorrent, semantic tagging, RSS, decentralized aggregation. Ownership . All dead or dying. These companies are all gobbling up the commons and pushing us into serfdom. Apple, Google, the RIAA. The whole lot of them have poached a…

Post by Retr0spectrum » Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 10:50 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #3

> "You must enable DRM to play some audio or video on this page" No. No no no no no. This isn't right. The modern Internet is such sellout. It didn't turn out anything like what I'd hoped. Bittorrent, semantic tagging, RSS, decentralized aggregation. Ownership . All dead or dying. These companies are all gobbling up the commons and pushing us into serfdom. Apple, Google, the RIAA. The whole lot of them have poached a…

Post by indigochill » Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 11:04 AM UTC

tleb_ wrote: post #18

indigochill wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even as BigCos do their best to ruin the mainstream for everyone, there are plenty of alternatives popping up. Gopher, Gemini, shared Unix terminals, Tor, etc. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your prediction, but I predict if things get so bad, there will definitely be a healthy community of counterculture hackers who will do things differently.

Those are cool when you live in the CLI. My mom doesn't though, being part of a small cluster of hackers is cool but not what the internet should be. My goal once I can finance it is to create a virtual island that my family and close friends can rely on for vital services: emails, file hosting, calendar, contacts, a public web space, etc. If every hacker did this for its close circle the impact would be far greater…

Post by UncleSlacky » Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 11:43 AM UTC

mozey wrote: post #14

TonyTrapp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often wonder how much time it will take for the scenario you described to collapse. Once computer systems become completely closed and programming becomes unavailable to the lowly user, how are new skilled people going to find their way into the system? Will it die when the last developers of the system retire?

Eventually, but it could live on for a long time. Reminds me of a story in the Dying Earth series, can't quite remember which one. Cugel visits a city where no one knows how the technology works anymore. Some of it still works, other stuff is breaking down, and the populace thinks that's because the magic is fading away. Or maybe I'm confusing different stories. Anyway, something along this line probably.