[normalnorm]

> This post is not about politics

This is a strange disclaimer. This post is absolutely about politics, and there is nothing wrong with that. Politics is not some dirty word. Politics is about the ideas, values and decisions that govern society. I understand what the author means, politics as in "Trump this, Biden that". Accepting this reductive version of what "politics" means is detrimental to us all. We have been conditioned by click-bait media to not being able to have a civilized discussion about the things that matter the most.

> we the technologists blah blah blah

"We the technologists" have no agency whatsoever. "We the technologists" are just middle class workers who will mostly do what it takes to secure employment, hoping to get a promotion as to be able to buy more toys.

The open web existed as a niche. It did not survive contact with the general public nor with corporate interests. This is because of a more general state of affairs, that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with technology.