[riebschlager]

I resonate with this nostalgia for the early internet, I really do. But lately I've been wondering if the tools available to us now are the key to bringing back what we miss about the old internet.

For example, let's look at "for you page" style algorithms. When I open Reels, I see incredible musicians, mind-blowing visual art and really thoughtful insights from people all over the world. That's exactly what I wanted out of the early internet, and here it is, an ever-evolving system that connects me with all the weird and amazing things that exist out in the world.

And those people in the world who make this content now have an agent actively connecting them with their audience. Yes, I realize this is an extremely charitable interpretation of what's happening behind the scenes. But often, the content I see feels very close to what the author is describing: Someone taking the time to describe their favorite tree.

If there was ever a "good ol' internet", it's still in there. It's just had tons of freeways and high-rise buildings built up around it. The older I get, the more it seems like you just need to let your eyes adjust a bit to see it.

Edited to add: My favorite tree, right now anyway, is a pair of birch trees in a park near my home. When they leaf out and the wind blows, I sit in the grass between them and it sounds almost like I'm at a beach, which is really nice because I'm about as far from an ocean as you can be on this planet.

[9rx]

> what we miss about the old internet.

I expect the only thing we actually miss about it is that it opened up a new frontier to explore, with nobody really understanding what it could be, allowing us to geek out on trying all kinds of crazy ideas to see what might stick.

Nowadays we more or less have a good understanding of what the internet is. There is no doubt still room for a crazy idea here and there, but it isn't the every idea is crazy feeding frenzy that we found in the early days.

We don't really want the old internet back – it never went away. Instead, we are ready for the "next internet", whatever that may be.

[cosmicgadget]

You're saying we won't get the feeling back because it is no longer a frontier? I don't agree or disagree just curious.

[9rx]

Maybe. I don't know. I suppose if I knew I'd already know, and thus wouldn't gain anything from talking about it, and therefore wouldn't be here.

Perhaps a related question is: How do we bring back that old feeling cars used to give people? The old timers reminisce about them just like those here remember the internet, but these days they're just boring tools at best. So boring that the kids reaching driving age today are happy to not even go near them.

Or maybe there is no going back? Been there, done that, as they say.

[cosmicgadget]

That is crazy, when I was a kid a car meant I could go hang out with my friends. And, well, I played a lot of Gran Turismo.

[9rx]

That was my experience too, as we're seemingly of similar age. Before that we saw the muscle and chrome eras, where people really got into them and made cars their identity and centre of life. It would appear cars saw very much a similar decline to the internet feeling we're talking about as the generations went by. The are still useful tools, to be sure, but now hard to fall in love with.

[moolcool]

> But lately I've been wondering if the tools available to us now are the key to bringing back what we miss about the old internet.

One of the best things about the old internet was Flash Player. It was an extremely low barrier-to-entry way for creators (especially young creators) to make games and animation which could be played in-browser on extremely low-power hardware. To this day, there's nothing which comes close to filling the vacuum.

[parpfish]

i can't help that think a big part of what made the internet special was that it wasn't for everybody back in the day.

it used to be that only certain types of people had the means and interest to be there. going there was like venturing into a world that was created and maintained by people that were all a little... weird. if you were also somebody that was also a little weird, it was a nice escape and gave a sense of belonging because the default way of being was "a little weird".

but now the internet is mainstream. the internet populus mirrors the real world populus. it's not built by and for nerds and academics and startrek obsessives anymore, it's built to serve the needs of the normal and popular people because normal people are now the modal people on the internet.

there are still pockets where you can find your weirdo kin, but you need to look for them. and the fact that you need to look for them kind of ruins the old allure where you could imagine what a parallel universe run by people like you would be like.