[mindcrime]

True, if you interpret "we" as "the community of people on the Internet" (who in the early days were mostly hackers, academics, and technologists of various sorts), then that interpretation is no longer valid. Now "The Internet" is roughly synonymous with "everybody".

But the group of people that made up the "old we" (to the extent that such a thing ever existed) still exists. That's the "we" I'm referring to now. So the question, to my mind, is whether or not there is still a distinct "we" who had grand visions of what the Internet and technology could do for society (in a good way) and whether there are still actions we could take to encourage development in a positive direction.

I think the answer is "yes", but that may just be wishful thinking. But I try to be an optimist.

[narag]

But the group of people that made up the "old we" (to the extent that such a thing ever existed) still exists.

I'm afraid that even if that's true, the us vs. them mindset is polluting the air.