
I’ve recently came to a conclusion that social media precludes real discussion. I know, shocking, isn’t it? Apparently, water is also wet wet but we are awaiting a confirmation from a team of specialists before going to print so don’t bet the farm on it yet. It wasn’t always like this. Not one bit.
See, back in the rays of the Wild West web we had a thing called forums and, before this, there was IRC, MSN, newsgroups and such as well. They were pretty great rays as the vibe was super fresh and the people authentic as heck with no image selling or echo chamber effect ergo it was much like a real world interaction, but digital. It meant people got passionate as hell but were also open to learning as well as they may have went hell for leather with their X mindset against the next who dared asked “Why?” to which the replies made them catch Zs but someone else chipped in with a fresh perspect that took the whole conversation in another direction as the original dude did the Knowledge and came back with a revised opinion.
Obviously it wasn’t always like this as some fools would digitally set trip as well and let their inner eThug rip as they often went to lengths, comedic, to hammer their point across to the rest that simply wouldn’t listen but, in general, you’d see some pretty amazing elevation from the conversation. The modern gen won’t know a thing about this as A) attention spans have been decimated, B) everyone is super sensitive and C) heavy handed moderation that enforces its own view about who can say what over the peeps doing as they wish within the playpen. Shades of nanny state, yes? “Is your social credit correct, citizen?” says HAL, from the wings, as he awaits Siri making that transition to the iris of your children to usher Techno Sapiens in.
What happened was this:
People no longer wish to learn and their empathy circuits are lacking as well as its a case of “Say it loud and often so whoever doesn’t agree is worse than Hitler, most certainly”. It wasn’t always like this as you could be posted up speaking about fly fishing, for example, and someone would comment, off topic, on something else like how Kirk was obviously the best Captain and then others would wade in to the topic and start wailing like their lives depended on it. Now, I’ve never watched a Trek nor have I slung some bait but you get what I mean, yes? This was always present as the people who met to congregate on the web were linking due to their passion for one thing but the rest of the residuals and social situation could be wildly divergent. Nowhere was this more prevalent than in the hacking scene as we were all keen on tapping keys to escalate privileges and all this but, behind the screen, one may be a rich kid whose parents splashed for broadband when everyone else was still dialing in on limited credits and yells of:
“‘I’m using the phone!” as a relative picked up the line and heard the sound of two robots, sexing.
But he may be the one that sits at the apex of the order that pecks whilst the other is a Ctrl C, Ctrl V specialist that truly does not comprehend his rig (or gig) outside and in as he’s merely there for the posing. This is what the web is filled with these daze as gone are the born and bred specialists that earned their way by brow which sweat and furrowed countenance as they weighed the variables to make what they wish happened. These dudes went all in and its the off topic discussions I recollect with a grin as some of them went on for years between people who went from one end of the spectrum to the next and then back again. So good was the argument that you may see a lifelong Linux head switch to Windows because that is were certain must have programs were booming only to find he went native upon logging in and then took the OS apart and rebuilt it to custom spec using his insight and imperience which the rest surely appreciated. On the flip you’d have his antithesis who was beating him about the head online about the flip who then ventured into the world of Apple instead.

Its just a basic example but I could ref countless topics from dudes who went to saying “What the F is this mess?” as a trader sent out mixtapes with his Zero Day warez discs so a kid from Detroits bricks is listening to Italo Disco shaking his head and, on the flip, you could have a chap, prolific, from behind the Iron Curtain thoroughly zoning to some gangsta rap which he could barely comprehend but totally felt what they said as oppression speaks a universal language. The former dude went on to have a techno renaissance when a friend placed said tape in the deck as they went on a road trip and filled him in on how the Belleville Three invented the wheel and congratulated him on his tastes which made him crave another hit as he logged back in and asked the dude who sent what the artists were and reffed as they started exchanging recommendations. Just an example but I’ve seen it with everything from Left to Right wing as well as the sober and daisy fresh (but perpetually anxious) that learnt how to let go an chill when hearing of another speak on the benefits of an MDMA trip. As I said, the protoweb really was something else as it was A) totally anonymous and B) sectioned into elements that were often based on forums or chatrooms built around a single topic that acted like a beacon for the rest, dialing in.

Social media kills this dead and the algos don’t help as they amp the echo chamber effect whereas, back when, you may have folks who chime in but it was you and your perspective as peeps knew your rep based on what you said in the threads. Add in PBXs where there was a worldwide party line in effect for as long as it took for the operator to click the phone was hacked and dudes calling in were not paying a cent and you’ll get a vibe of what it was like when times were in the mid of being analog with a hint of digital. It truly was an amazing thing to witness. Nothing like it before or since but I suspect Feelie tech will bring that vibe back again but at the cost of a chip in your head. But, thats another topic.
See, what kicked with the web back when was people didn’t say:
“You believe X ergo the rest of your opinions are irrelevant” but actually asked questions of surprising depth that, some times, really made the answerer stop and think about what he was actually invested in. A dude realized that he was actually spouting his fathers rhetoric that was penned from a time that didn’t exist and was actually way more patriotic than he had a reason to invest whereas another chap eventually clicked that his total lack of tolerance for a demograph, specific, came from having never actually having met one as his entire town was dominated by those just like him. What had happened was the main thread was filled with people asking specific questions about whatever lyrics the section was kicking (in this case, hacking) and the chap he was talking to was from a race he detested but was happily filling him in and answering his questions for ages as he didn’t really engage in the social bit as he was strictly about pushing the limits of tech ergo knew not of the others hatred. Then, one ray, he dialed in and when the other heard his thick accent he started clowning and unleashing the diss to which the other, non plussed, simply replied with:
“Whatever you’re saying can’t be about me, personally, as I’m the guy who leveled up your skills so from whence comes this resentment then?”.

On the line, silence. Everyone was listening as the first kid had quite the rep and, as mentioned, never partook in the capering as he was strictly business but, eventually, someone convinced him to dial in as we were having an event to celebrate something big that he’d taken part in. The other dude really had no answer to this as it genuinely made him stop and think. He was man enough to admit it and the guy asked if he’d ever visited his continent, read about its history or offerings etc etc. He hadn’t. Then he admitted what he’d repeated was almost verbatim from what his peers had said that he had absorbed without question. All of a sudden others chimed in that they were either from or linked to the same place as well which is why they never assisted him in the main thread as they’d read his incessant raving in the off topic. This meant that an entire section of people totally changed their wavelength via one conversation that happened at random.
Picture that happening today, if you can. Who could state where it went as its not like the dude went from a Neo Nazi to Martin Luther King in new skin but it certainly was interesting as this was a rather intense example but something I saw time and again as it could be a simple riff as cereal first or milk as well as the fact that we may be inside a simulation and none of this is really real as people were starting to click, back when, that the exponential leaps in tech can only mean its already happened and we’re within a binary creation that exists as an approximation of the real thing. Hoo, that one was animated as hell as it was before the Matrix and some, religious, yelled their creator would never let this happen for he built the world in so many days etc etc whilst others attested their holy scripts said it was just this and more akin to a dream whilst some of the psychonauts agreed they had seen the same on their trips as a teetotal code junkie said the most logical answer points in this direction as well along with a thousand and one different opinions as we literally spoke on this for half a decade, near constant, as a lot of us who played in the shadows depth were conspiracy minded as well.

To me it seems that people are either way more staid these daze or the folks who dialled in, back when, were obviously at the fringe of what society accepts and thus our ragtag bunch of miscreants were the cream de la creme of the weird end of the spectrum. I recollect, with a grin, the devout Christian coming in one ray and commenting:
“Listen, in the beginning was the Word, yeah? Its code. Its always been. How could I not see?”.
After the Matrix hit and became his favorite flick. Then his wig was blown back and inch when another opined that Neo is Jesus, Trinity, Mary Magdalene and Morph was John the Baptist. I’ll let you guess who Judas repped. This simply made the chap dig in even further to the lore, repertoire and the rest and he, for the first time, expanded his view way beyond the good book and into hoary old texts as well as cutting edge science that, previously, he’d rejected out of hand as Satans creation and the ultimate deception as an affront to the holy plan. Can you imagine that type of thing happening these rays, my friend? I doubt it and yet there is more and more information than ever at your fingertips and plenty of people who respout it via vid for those who want the research done for them as they Ctrl C, Ctrl V anothers mindsets. Nobody ever did this back when. Never. It simply wasn’t on to front like you knew something as another would come along and press what you profess to check the shadows depth and this went from the little challenges or side quests we’d set each other up to a conversation in which a jit who predicted payments, contactless, a decade before it happened and everyone said it was ridiculous as cash would be king from now till the end.
His reasoning? He never disclosed it beyond “Watch and see“. He also stated, for certain, that soon stores would be totally automated with theft, impossible, as the tech would expand with facial tracking as well that knew who stepped in and what they dipped with as this ushered in an age of perpetual surveillance that culminated with the death of the net as we knew it and bought it back with access only granted by a driving license equivalent and requisite regs as well. Most audacious was the statement that, in your lifetime, you’ll see people having sex with robots and anyone who says these Synths are not in each and every way equal to humans was worse than Hitler himself. The discussions and comments ranged from “Possible but not probable” to “Are you off your head and in need of meds?” with a few stating that its the most logical conclusion as the rise of digital communism threatens the analog freedom we were swimming in. Either way, the most interesting thing is how now, a few decades since, we’re literally watching all of this unfold like reality follows a script so if my old friends from back when are reading this:
I told you it would happen.
Till we meet again


































































