new internet

But you know what? I really like the physical world. I like to feel like

a healthy animal. Too much time in the virtual world makes me feel worse.

I don't like it. And to me there is no question that the qualities of

the physical place where I live are far, far more important than anything

about the Internet, and always will be.

I do think that the end really is here for the blogosphere though. This time it really is different. I’ve weathered many ups and downs in the blogosphere over my 17 years in it, but now it feels like the end of the blogging era. And what has emerged to take its place is not the blogosphere (and really shouldn’t try to be), even though parts of it... See more

But, the enshittification of the internet isn't a consequence of entropy, it's a choice. And it's blatantly clear that the choice of the builder of these systems aren't trying to help their users anymore.

No, I think this will all end, as T.S Eliot said, with a whimper. People will simply lose interest and walk away. Because the internet now is boring . People spend all day scrolling because they are trying to find what isn’t there anymore. The authenticity, the genuinely human moments, the fun.

🚨This is the trap that social media, and by extension all of us, are in:

📈Toxicity drives use. Lowering toxicity drops ad sales (if you are ad supported) & engagement (even if you are not)

📉Toxicity spreads like a disease. It turns regular users toxic & makes networks awful

I recognize these attempts, yet I know for a fact that the internet — this home and caretaker and teacher and friend will never return to its prior state. Everything only experiences infancy once. But in the same way you return to your hometown after years of absence and see it evolve and reconstitute itself, the vestiges of beauty on the web have... See more

About this Class #

There are two meanings of internet:

• the infrastructure that connects computing devices,


• or the ecosystem of applications built on that infrastructure.

When the average person says “internet” they usually refer to the second definition. This class, on the other hand, explores the first.