A common hope back then was that we would enter a new world by giving every child access to every book every written, with technology and knowledge being the gateway to a better future. The censorship of knowledge and culture would be forever be broken. In 2004 there was en excellent talk by Eben Moglen on the subject called "Die Gedanken Sind Frei". It focused heavily on the struggle for freedom of thought. The talk…
A transcript for Eben Moglen's talk is available at http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/berlin-keynote.h...
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (1996)
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Re: A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (1996)
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reflecting on the past I think there was something of a benefit to the limitations imposed by scarcity - in childhood the limitations on what books, games, toys and tv I could find forced me to explore topics and genres I would ignore today, and in my young adulthood there was still something magical about traveling specifically to go hunting for .
There were definitely some advanced dynamics that are now very hard to replicate. Some of the businesses that have been wiped out (the record store, the book store, the blockbuster joint...) often acted as cultural nexus in very distinctive ways that websites don't really replicate.
Yeah - going to the bookstore or comic shop used to be something really special. Maybe I'll find something new, maybe I won't, but it's and adventure. I remember traveling across the city to that one comic shop that would have that one obscure comic I needed.
Today.. Well I don't even have to leave my desk. On one hand, I get what I want that much easier. It's still a sort of magic, but it's not the same.