[krapp]

>We’ve effectively encouraged the absolute worst elements of society to come out and have a field day without the social pushback that had kept them in line for millennia.

We've also effectively given everyone else access to information, communication and opportunities to expand their worldview that have been more profoundly transformational than even the printing press.

No, creating the internet was not a mistake, any more than any means of mass communication is a mistake because it can be misused as well as used wisely. Without the internet, global culture would be entirely controlled, centralized and limited by media conglomerates, digital rights management and distribution by physical media, and our means of mass communication limited to telephones. The same internet that grants freedom of expression to the "absolute worst elements of society" grants it to you and I as well.

The internet is just a network, but I believe the good it's done for humanity has far outweighed the ill.