Ten years ago, the industry’s identity was largely defined by thousands of young millennials who wanted to “change the world,” and the handful of large technology companies attempting to attract that talent. Discussions of material abundance, of connecting humanity, and of every sci-fi moonshot on our path to Star Trekkian utopia were not only... See more

The first thing I’ve come to learn is that pursuing something as open-ended as internet reform requires intentional scoping and goal-setting. The New Internet was never a single thing. It was fractured and messily connected from the jump. This messiness was used as feedstock to accelerate its consolidation under what became the crypto industry. It... See more

The New Internet failed to provide a clear enough plot, a straightforward enough of a product, nor legible enough of a movement to fend off the effects of value drift. Young people especially want to work on material things that pay well and the New Internet never really had a clear career path attached to it.

Take decentralized networks, which promised to shift power from tech giants back to users. The vision was beautiful: creators and contributors would finally capture the value they generate. But many crypto networks revealed how quickly noble intentions can unravel. What started as a grassroots movement to build community-owned wireless networks... See more

Some of you might have read my previous article, Against an Increasingly User Hostile Web. In it, I argue that we are replacing an open web that connects and empowers with one that restricts and commoditises people. I talk about how the modern web of surveillance, bloat and walled gardens is at odds with the open web that I love.