The real internet, is long gone.

[MisterSpock]

I'm starting to realize that none of this matters anymore. The online discourse, the "last stand" that some of us are making is just kicking and screaming while the last of the air leaves the lungs. Not a comment on anything here, just the rest of the world(internet). I remember the birth of all this, the BBS boards, dialing into a number you got out of a magazine or from a friend. Conversing with a very select few with the means(intellect) to give this all a go and truly reach across the world to find others like themselves, or unlike, to exchange information and truly broaden themselves. It's all gone, it was great and now it's literally nothing but a soulless husk of what was once a great entity. I miss those old days, not for what they were, but for the future that laid ahead, they were bright, Now, the future is anything but that.


I blasted this out in the chat, but thought some would like a thread, I know I'm not alone in having "been there" when this was all so fresh, so exciting and so amazing. The future was so bright......then you blink and here we are.

[MisterSpock]

I remember what it was like to talk to people, share interest with them as a preteen from places all over the world I'd never goto. As a kid in a small midwest town, I could tell someone the next day I talked with a friend from brazil, or spain or germany about movies, music, PC games or even just the trials of our age group with regard to parents, school or social circles. This was so amazing, it was liberating. And the real beauty of it, was that for something so broad, it was a small group of people that seemed to have found such a broad, but small, community.

Even the early commercial aspects where still pretty "exclusive" the birth of it all still had some magic. The early companies fighting it out to have their name at the head of an emerging community still had some idea of the true nature of it all. Then it just went all to shit.

[MisterSpock]

Now, you can download a dozen different programs and search several dozen search engines that claim all sorts of magic with regard to "results" and across all of them you'll get the same thing, pages of "results" that are from the largest corporations pushing the "truth" no matter what you do. Literally, it's like going to a library with 3 books in it and expecting to find information.

There was more information in my elementary school library than one can find on the modern internet.

[MisterSpock]

When you think of it, the modern internet, via the main corporations that all contract upwards into one or two entities, has accomplished far more with regard to eliminating massive amounts of information far beyond what the bad guys from WWII could have ever imagined.

Forget you'll own nothing and like it.

You'll know nothing, and think you know it all.

[kdog]

It all went to shit. Internet , cable , all of it. 
What we thought was the true beginning of freedom was a false hope. 

Now people believe it all, but us old timers know the truth. 

It was a trap to get people to believe everything that was spewed on the internet and TV. 

I miss the days when it took 10 minutes to download a porn PICTURE. I usually got the job done before it was half downloaded.

[MisterSpock]

It all went to shit. Internet , cable , all of it. 
What we thought was the true beginning of freedom was a false hope. 

Now people believe it all, but us old timers know the truth. 

It was a trap to get people to believe everything that was spewed on the internet and TV. 

I miss the days when it took 10 minutes to download a porn PICTURE. I usually got the job done before it was half downloaded.

LOL, you know, you aren't wrong.

Even something as simple as porn highlighted the different times and culture back then. I mean, you put some effort into it(not the physical thing, but the media). I remember when it took 2 or 3 minutes to get a 2Kb picture of some tits. I think even that aspect of it, was appreciated more, than things today.

[BIAD]

The internet is not much different from all the other consumable goods we purchase, except replacing it
with an upgrade hasn't really arrived yet in the public marketplace. We were told great things would be
seen and we would learn far-more than just reading books and listening to our elders, it had the attraction
of making a person believe they were 'technical' -just like the scientists of the TV series 'Time Tunnel'.

But really it's just a replacement for the TV set and has fallen victim to mankind's basic -but necessary, flaw.
We were sold a serious conduit of discourse and we drew a cock and balls on it for the giggles.

[Snarl]

we drew a cock and balls on it for the giggles.

I remember being on UseNet where you couldn't speak in the presence of the Authorities On The Subject.

I made a years long effort of putting one of those forums in its grave. Still visit every year or two to leave fresh flowers. The main reason I won't go back to TOS.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

we drew a cock and balls on it for the giggles.

I remember being on UseNet where you couldn't speak in the presence of the Authorities On The Subject.

I made a years long effort of putting one of those forums in its grave. Still visit every year or two to leave fresh flowers. The main reason I won't go back to TOS.

I used "The Well", PC Link, Q-Link, Usenet, and Nexis, back in the day, all thanks to CompuServe.

Nexis was great, until it became too expensive.

Communicating was more of a "Jumping Jack Flash" experience then, a soul integrating experience. Back then everyone was who they said the were,  and they didn't try to hide. Biggest down side was the speed, and the packets were not cheap.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Disappointed in your lack of hope, C'mon man.  

However, you are spot on!! Ah, the glory days of BBS, alt.2600 & alt.usenet groups, the feeling of freedom, them were the days. I had recent flashbacks of all that when I watched the "Halt and Catch Fire" show.



Dr. They explains how what people perceive as the truth is twisted and turned until no one knows or cares about it anymore.





It’s current iteration expresses itself as an MMO/ARG re-enactment LARP of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Internet today is...



Resulting in...



Cybernetic/PsyWar Stratgems are being deployed against the population to antagonize and distract the bottom 90% while the US is being liquidated and folded into a global governance system. Ideological cordyceps are rampant in the evolving adversarial memeplex.

[ancientlight]

I'm starting to realize that none of this matters anymore. The online discourse, the "last stand" that some of us are making is just kicking and screaming while the last of the air leaves the lungs. Not a comment on anything here, just the rest of the world(internet). I remember the birth of all this, the BBS boards, dialing into a number you got out of a magazine or from a friend. Conversing with a very select few with the means(intellect) to give this all a go and truly reach across the world to find others like themselves, or unlike, to exchange information and truly broaden themselves. It's all gone, it was great and now it's literally nothing but a soulless husk of what was once a great entity. I miss those old days, not for what they were, but for the future that laid ahead, they were bright, Now, the future is anything but that.


I blasted this out in the chat, but thought some would like a thread, I know I'm not alone in having "been there" when this was all so fresh, so exciting and so amazing. The future was so bright......then you blink and here we are.

I know what you mean. I remember and miss those days . Nothing in the world seems the same anymore, not just the internet. Everything has changed for the worse, imo. We have been, and are regressing as a society. Freedom of speech has been erased in many ways, and barely anyone blinks. I would go back in time in a heartbeat, if I could :(

[MisterSpock]

Disappointed in your lack of hope, C'mon man.  

However, you are spot on!! Ah, the glory days of BBS, alt.2600 & alt.usenet groups, the feeling of freedom, them were the days. I had recent flashbacks of all that when I watched the "Halt and Catch Fire" show.



Dr. They explains how what people perceive as the truth is twisted and turned until no one knows or cares about it anymore.





It’s current iteration expresses itself as an MMO/ARG re-enactment LARP of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Internet today is...



Resulting in...



Cybernetic/PsyWar Stratgems are being deployed against the population to antagonize and distract the bottom 90% while the US is being liquidated and folded into a global governance system. Ideological cordyceps are rampant in the evolving adversarial memeplex.

Its a great show, really did a good job of capturing the excitement of this when it emerged, even though it was mostly fictional. I'm going to watch it again, for about the 4th or 5th time now.

[CelticBanshee3]

Disappointed in your lack of hope, C'mon man.  

However, you are spot on!! Ah, the glory days of BBS, alt.2600 & alt.usenet groups, the feeling of freedom, them were the days. I had recent flashbacks of all that when I watched the "Halt and Catch Fire" show.



Dr. They explains how what people perceive as the truth is twisted and turned until no one knows or cares about it anymore.





It’s current iteration expresses itself as an MMO/ARG re-enactment LARP of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Internet today is...



Resulting in...



Cybernetic/PsyWar Stratgems are being deployed against the population to antagonize and distract the bottom 90% while the US is being liquidated and folded into a global governance system. Ideological cordyceps are rampant in the evolving adversarial memeplex.

Its a great show, really did a good job of capturing the excitement of this when it emerged, even though it was mostly fictional. I'm going to watch it again, for about the 4th or 5th time now.

is that the name of the show? Cybernetic/PsyWar? Would love to check it out.

[MisterSpock]

Disappointed in your lack of hope, C'mon man.  

However, you are spot on!! Ah, the glory days of BBS, alt.2600 & alt.usenet groups, the feeling of freedom, them were the days. I had recent flashbacks of all that when I watched the "Halt and Catch Fire" show.



Dr. They explains how what people perceive as the truth is twisted and turned until no one knows or cares about it anymore.





It’s current iteration expresses itself as an MMO/ARG re-enactment LARP of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Internet today is...



Resulting in...



Cybernetic/PsyWar Stratgems are being deployed against the population to antagonize and distract the bottom 90% while the US is being liquidated and folded into a global governance system. Ideological cordyceps are rampant in the evolving adversarial memeplex.

Its a great show, really did a good job of capturing the excitement of this when it emerged, even though it was mostly fictional. I'm going to watch it again, for about the 4th or 5th time now.

is that the name of the show? Cybernetic/PsyWar? Would love to check it out.

I thought I highlighted it in the post I quoted, Halt and Catch Fire is the name of the show.

[Brotherman]

I remember before the internet as a wee young little bastard my elementary school teacher had a colleague teacher in England that taught the same grade (I believe was 4th grade) and she used to make our class have a pen pal in the British teachers class room. We used to write letters and dend pictures back and forth for that school year. My pen pals name was Glenn. After that year we kept writing each other until he was able to get AOL IM to work. Never wrote another letter to England since then.

[BIAD]

I remember before the internet as a wee young little bastard my elementary school teacher had a colleague teacher in England that taught the same grade (I believe was 4th grade) and she used to make our class have a pen pal in the British teachers class room. We used to write letters and send pictures back and forth for that school year. My pen pals name was Glenn. After that year we kept writing each other until he was able to get AOL IM to work. Never wrote another letter to England since then.

It is odd that when considering all the benefits that writing with a pen/pencil would bring to generations strange to this
way of communicating, the media and the education-system do not promote it.

One can only wonder -when thinking about all the crap that is posted through our doors made of paper, the mass-use of
electricity to charge and maintain laptops and cell-phones, the concerns of lower-communication skills through hand-writing
and the basic distancing that's taking place between us due to the lack of real personal contact... why it hasn't been pushed.

Then again, a sealed letter is far different from an electronic message sent via a conduit under the control of a Government
-affiliated private company.

[Brotherman]

I remember before the internet as a wee young little bastard my elementary school teacher had a colleague teacher in England that taught the same grade (I believe was 4th grade) and she used to make our class have a pen pal in the British teachers class room. We used to write letters and send pictures back and forth for that school year. My pen pals name was Glenn. After that year we kept writing each other until he was able to get AOL IM to work. Never wrote another letter to England since then.

It is odd that when considering all the benefits that writing with a pen/pencil would bring to generations strange to this
way of communicating, the media and the education-system do not promote it.

One can only wonder -when thinking about all the crap that is posted through our doors made of paper, the mass-use of
electricity to charge and maintain laptops and cell-phones, the concerns of lower-communication skills through hand-writing
and the basic distancing that's taking place between us due to the lack of real personal contact... why it hasn't been pushed.

Then again, a sealed letter is far different from an electronic message sent via a conduit under the control of a Government
-affiliated private company.

Me and my pen pal didnt have to keep writing each other after that school year but we did, along woth alot of other kids from my class. Being young like that it was exciting getting mail but to get mail from your foreign friend was really cool at that age. We used to send each other shit from newspapers we thought was cool. I’d mail him calvin and hobbes from the sunday paper along with shit that my bou scout troop was doing. One assignment was really cool where we each had to ask our pen pal for one of their moms recipes that he liked so i could try to cook it myself and i semd one the same etc. when we got inline young like that i already had a buddy and we could instantly talk. 

The internet was a dofferent place then.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

.

Its a great show, really did a good job of capturing the excitement of this when it emerged, even though it was mostly fictional. I'm going to watch it again, for about the 4th or 5th time now.

From that "Halt and Catch Fire" show which COMDEX was brought up reminded me my dad went to every COMDEX in Las Vegas from the late 80s through the 90s. By the early 90's my dad made a small fortune off of Bill Gates and he retired as a slave machinist at age 37 and went into private business for himself.

Fall Comdex 1983, Las Vegas Convention Center, Part 1 of 3 (Geeky Bill Gates starting @15:38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNS8TE4XhU

Fall Comdex 1983 Part 2 of 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrgwliaIYTQ

Fall Comdex 1983 Part 3 of 3 includes a full demo of Microsoft Windows pre-1.0 from right after it was first announced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnDRw8-caxU

Fall Comdex 1983 Excerpts" - short clip shows Bill Gates talking to Jonathan Sachs (Lotus) from Part 1, a paint program running on an Apple IIe with a mouse before the Mac, and part of a demo of Microsoft Windows pre-1.0 right after it was announced.



Vids from Dan Bricklin's Web Site