How to fix the internet
This week’s question comes from John V Willshire:
Which internet do you wish we’d ended up with instead of the one we got?
My immediate reaction to this question was to just say that we’ve gotten the internet we deserved. But that’s such as cynical knee-jerk answer that I decided to go for a walk and think about it for a bit.
I thought about the words in your question to see if I could break it down into smaller parts, like trying to fix a watch by taking it apart. (Fun fact, I cannot fix a watch and this would be a terrible idea.)
I kept getting stuck on the word we. We say we a lot and I don’t think we actually mean it. I think most of the time we mean me and mine. Which on the one hand, is totally understandable. We’re pack animals. We want to protect what’s close to us. But the more beautiful and magnificent version of the word we contains more people that we cannot see than people we can see. It contains people that we will never meet, but also some that we will, and we needed it build this for them too. Strike that: we needed to build this with them.
I kept getting stuck on the phrase ended up with. We didn’t end up with it. We built it! A lot of the people reading this sentence had a say on how pieces of the internet were built. (As did the guy writing the sentence.) We made decisions. And quite frankly, we made decisions based on whether they benefited me and mine, and not we.
I kept getting stuck on the word wish. Wish is a bullshit word. You can wish for something or you can work towards making it happen, while also realizing that some of us have a lot more privilege/time/energy than others. Most folks on this planet are just trying to get to tomorrow. A few of us are lucky enough that tomorrow is a little bit more assured and we can think about things like next week.
As I walked, I passed an old factory that had been renovated into condos, and I passed an Amazon warehouse. I passed about a dozen Teslas, I passed Amazon workers napping in their cars, I passed an Amazon worker napping in his Tesla, I passed a union hall, and I passed a park where people were playing with their dogs. Some of those people were on their phones, and some were speaking to one another.
Ultimately, I think we got the internet that reflects who we are.
We got an internet where a select few people have a lot of control because they have money. We got an internet where loud angry racists demand a lot of attention because they believe they deserve that attention. But we also got an internet where kids manage to connect with one another. We got an internet where trans kids can get make-up tutorials. We got an internet where the horrors of a genocide can be exposed, as much as the powers-that-be try to stifle that from happening. We got an internet where Kendrick can go ham. We got an internet that reflects both the horror and the beauty of who we are as human beings.
We got the internet that reflects who we are.
Do I want a better internet? Sure. I mean, I’m on it right now. I’d enjoy it more if it wasn’t full of terfs and nazis. But the path to a better internet starts with building a better society. Which starts by redefining what we mean when we say we.
Because right now, there’s some ridiculously talented gender-fluid kid, with pronouns that would make your Uncle Gary uncomfortable, making music in a bedroom in a town you’ve never heard of somewhere on this planet. It sounds like nothing we’ve heard before. That kid is gonna need the internet to post it and we’re gonna need the internet to listen to it.
And that? I definitely want that.
Got a question? Reply to this newsletter with one and I just might answer it.
Kendrick won. The Apple ad sucked. The new Doctor Who is gonna be amazing. Nick Cave is wrong. RIP Steve Albini. Buy a zine.