Me in 1999: "The internet is amazing! It will bring the world together and break down barriers. We will be an enlightened people. Education for the masses!"
Me in 2019: "Was the internet a mistake? I never predicted echo-chambers, extremism and disinformation campaigns."
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Quite recognizable! Remember those academic papers from the 90s about the internet? A lot of them haven't aged well. How little did we know.
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In my opinion, it comes down to information being an extremely powerful thing. What's worth more than money itself? Information. What's more powerful than the largest atomic weapons? Information.
The internet is a culmination of that fact -- it cuts better than the sharpest ...
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... swords and like any form of information, it can be used for good or evil.
Let's face it -- our technology has grown exponentially faster than our ability to understand the implications of that technology. We just haven't had the time to adapt on a social level to this.