Back when I started the Internet was a pretty new thing. I'm not going to imply I'm any sort of pioneer or anything, but I've been around for a little while and I've seen some things.
In the early days there was a wealth of innovation, fueled by new technology, interesting people, and venture capital. We had all sorts of people coming up with beautiful and terrible ideas. The good ones got popular, the terrible ones found the door, just how capitalism is supposed to work. There were hiccups along the way, y2k was one, the dotbomb was another. We recovered. Why? How?
We were having fun building something amazing and groundbreaking. We had ideals, the Internet was here to stay and it was meant to bring the entire world together. Good and bad. We were advocates for network neutrality and free speech. The carriers were huge monopolies and we were startups, we were literally the little guys fighting on the front lines against Corporate monopolies. We had visions of bringing together every person on the planet online so they could access any information they wanted at any time, and so they could participate and share what information they had. It was a truly beautiful thing, and I'm proud to be part of that.
Over time there grew giants. Yahoo was the forefront, they made an entire directory of the Internet! Microsoft emerged online from being just a software company. Then came the mother of all innovativeness, Google. Don't be evil. They were the rockstar of the Internet community. Everybody wanted to work there and be part of it.
Facebook was kind of a joke, Twitter was just fucking weird, whatever... normies liked their virtual farms and now people could share pictures of their kids growing up with distant relatives. We brought streaming music to the masses, and then video, and food deliveries, and ride shares, and all of this wonderful stuff. We turned your fucking phone into a portable laptop for fucks sake!
So what happened? Where did it go wrong? Well, consolidation happened.
Google would buy a company here and there, Microsoft and Yahoo would counter. Facebook saw Social Media for what it was and made the unit of measurement called "the Instagram". Consolidation continued and companies were measured by whatever these ever-growing companies would pay in "Instagrams". The most critical acquisition made during those times is when Google bought DoubleClick. This forever cemented them as the money making behemoth they are today. This cornered a huge portion of online advertising here. Facebook made themselves a walled garden so they did pretty well. Netflix, Apple, Amazon all found their corners of the Internet and killed off or bought any competition.
Then they continued to consolidate. At this point the startup community is pretty much dead. That also means that innovation has also come to a virtual (virtual LOL) halt. We're not making new things anymore. Innovation used to come from hungry young entrepreneurs, now it comes from lab rats at these FAANG companies. What's their motivation? Nothing really. They aren't fighting for their lives. They're sitting in a box and get paid whether they make something or not.
What's happened over the past few years is NOT inconsequential. There's been very little innovation. The Internet platform that was meant to bring the world together has divided it. This wonderful platform is being used as a tool to silence any dissent. That's not what it was meant for. That's not what is was meant to be. That's not responsible use of power. This is exactly the opposite of what our vision was. Vulture Capitalism has come to the tech industry, and it's being run by the very same people that hated Wall Street in the very recent past. They didn't win Occupy Wall St, they made their own street and joined them.
Well there's good news out there. We will rise from this. The tech industry had very good times, and those good times made weak men. Weak in virtue, they've lost their morals. They are now the largest companies in the world. What they've done to a large part of the community, that's us, is to create hard times.
You need to understand what these behemoths just did to themselves. They've created a market. There's now room for innovation again. There's a base out there without service, there's a hole that needs to be filled, there's a need that is just begging to be met.
"Necessity is the mother of invention"
Hold the line, my fellow Americans. While it seems like things aren't going well I can assure you that this too shall pass. We will rise from the ashes free from our virtual chains. This site is a testament, and the mods should be applauded for leading the way.
Donate where you can to new innovation, participate if you can. If you don't have the money or skills, be supportive. It's going to be a bumpy ride but when it's over we will emerge victorious.
HOLD THE LINE!!!
I worked in tech in the 90's thru the early 2000's, when I retired very early.
I can validate every word you have said. The consolidation stiffled new innovation, without a doubt. I saw this train wreck coming down the track for years.
You are correct that this is the first time in years that new ground has been cleared for new startups to really have a shot at succeeding, barring, of course government interference....
I'm hopeful. There are good people out there that are disgusted with how their hard work is being used.
I retired in my 40's for this reason. I did not like the trend that I was seeing.
I moved back to my home state, and have not regretted it for a single moment.
It also helped that I didn't blow the money I made (which was a LOT in those days), on hookers, coke, and toys.
There are still reasonable places to be. I worked in social media and that was the absolute worst experience of my life. I've been able to move to a nice red state and work remotely, have all the pay and very little of the headache.
Still building that nest egg, have one house paid off and have nearly enough cash to pay off the other. After that it's all $BTC and IRA until I get tired of it all.
I am SO glad that I got my Dad's impulse control and financial acumen.
There is nothing like answering to no one but myself and my wife, of course. Our two kids are grown and on their on.
Perhaps it’s time to unretire for a bit and get back in the ring for the good fight again...
I would rather put myself into a woodchipper, feet first, on low rpm..........
I contribute in other ways...money, time, locally,. etc.
Your feelings on the subject are very clear haha
:)
yes etc in those other ways, is also very important [small seed angel investing, mentorship, frens, saving America and making another Golden Age, another American Century.]
Very new to all of this. Any tips to startups? All the red tape feels very daunting.
Best bet...design a niche product..prove it in a smaller market, then sell it.
Interesting. Figured I’d make a splash by making my product as broad as possible. Thx, pede! U rad.
You would think that...but you can't typically pay the cost to scale it that large. Unless you get some viral marketing your best bet is to dominate a local market and prove it will scale. Got this off of sharktank :)
Great advice. Makes sense!
Thx for the three good points, pede! I didn’t count the first because that’s too obvious to be a point, unless I plan on a sht removal service.
Be born 20 years earlier.
The boomers left us nothing, now they want us to fix things for them so they can retire in peace.
Lol, I love when millennials, the most useless and lazy generation, cry about boomers.
I upvoted you. I'm a millennial and I'm tired of the boomer haters. That division doesn't help us.
We're actually the most hard working generation by every measure, we're just pissed about the shit country we inherited because boomers didn't pay attention to politics unless it affected their social security.
Blame the libs you little shit
The Democrats did not listen to us, like they won't listen to you. That's why Trump became President.
Oh look, it's the Boomer Blaming Brigade.
He isn't wrong you know. Millennials are to blame for problems created in our infancy.
Unchecked financial system, exporting manufacturing overseas, Monopolistic Corporations running unchecked has nothing to do with millennials. This all started in the late 90's early 2000s. About time old timers start owning it. Because only then will we all have the power to fix it.
Boomers created everything you have. They created the greatest world anyone has ever lived in in the entire history of mankind. Boomers still vote for exactly the same people they used to, they all vote Republican, and they still hold all the same values they used to.
It was the millennials that are voting Democrat, no one else. It is the weak, and pathetic people that grew up in luxury that are causing all this.
Boomers both Dems and Repubs were voting for the uni-party and did not know it.
Man you are so wrong. If the all vote and actually gave a shit, we wouldn't be in Thurs situation. Next. Fyi. You should check voting demographicss again. Millennials are over 30 now
Free market economics and high immigration is what boomers voted for, and is exactly why we're in this mess right now. Go look at how they worship Reagan; he was not a good president.
no it isn't. free market economics is the reason you are richer and more lazy than any generation in history... free market economics is the enemy of the left, because it means they cannot control the world. Millenials like you, who are all trying to destroy freedom and capitalism, are the reason we are in this mess.
Yes. And?
Ah blockchain. Peer to peer. Decentralized.
It’s just the tip too.
The internet hasn’t been free for sometime, that must change.
It USA wants to give up control of the internet well they just might be already.
Blockchain is tough, because it does not scale. Not in any meaningful way. It's something like 3 transactions per second, max...
But, decentralized is the right answer. Nobody should own any meaningful piece of all of it... and clearly, we're at the exact opposite of that today
Obama already gave up control of the internet. The UN now controls it all.
Great write up. Internet censorship is what truly sparked my shift from being on the left to moving to the right.
The only thing I have to say is this.... Will any of that market space actually matter? I personally believe we are in the communist end game, and I fear we're about to see the collapse of the american dollar.
We're going to be sent into the great depression on steroids, and most Americans will be more concerned about finding their next meal and keeping the lights on. Mean while the powers at be will go right back to selling us to China and pushing us under communist subjugation.
Currency collapse is the big worry. It is not a question of IF but when.
Joe “Dark Winter” Biden is going to accelerate the process and he is owned by the CCP.
I don’t understand the endgame of the so called “elites”. This is not going to be like the last world reserve currency change from the British pound to the US dollar.
To understand the endgame and why we got into this situation, you have to realize the simple truth, which is to say that the elites are not as a united front as they seem from the outside, same is true of all dictatorships and of China.
The goal changes depending on how smart you are in the ladder and how vindictive you are. For some, destruction is what they want, they want to destroy everything so that can build it their way from scratch, similar to how kings invaded and destroyed countries to build up their own kingdoms; others desire control, they wish to be the arbiters of truth and are self-obsessed; more desire stability, they want the world to stand still, for trends to stop and to capture a moment in a bottle; the mass majority are led astray by the thoughts of utopia, if only we could get rid of those bigots, if only we could unite under my thoughts and my opinions.
The diversity of goals is why the left acts as an ouroboros, eating their own and recycling them. It is why they are both ridiculous and powerful. The few masterminds hate you and have justified their actions, similar to how Hitler justified his.
True, and the conspiracy crowd's insistence that the "elites" are one monolithic cabal prevents us from finding schisms and exploiting them.
The republicans are disconnected and out of touch with their own voters, however they are still going to fight the left on certain issues. The Right is hoping a Biden administration will undo 'Trumpism' and they can go back to the bush era. They are fools... they do not know how unhinged the left has become. The Elites will break themselves down.
We're at a point where money doesn't really matter. It's all about control. The end game is for them to own everything, your life will become the most hellish theme park ride in existence where your sole purpose for living will be to be a slave to push whatever they want you to do. Free will will no longer exist.
I’m afraid you may very well be correct. Bannon had an interesting author on War Room Pandemic about the coming neo-feudalism. The author was not proTrump, was probably a Bernie guy, but his points were valid. Of course that is the difference between the view points unlike the shrieking Harradrins of the left we can have a rationale discourse with opposing views and allow arguments to stand on there own merits.
They want to confiscate all wealth and force us all onto UBI subsistence, totally digital and monitored. Time to buy metals again and bury them in the backyard to trade with your neighbors for chickens.
when i was involved in web dev 15+ years ago, you found a small independent host, you used a registrar and you created your website. No remotely hosted content management system, no web builder with services hosted elsewhere. Each website had its own light switch. Millions of independently hosted sites with very little shared interdependencies. Now, pretty much every website, corporate or independent, is hosted or content managed on the systems of 3 or 4 companies. Social media has taken it to the next level. Why even have a website if you can have a facebook page? Community standards? What? As long as you were not breaking the law, you had zero concern about your site being taken down. Literally the only thing that could get a site taken down was a court order from the DOJ.
But think about it, your web host had no reason to care what your content was, as long as it was legal. There was no social media to drum up a witch hunt. The idea of not liking someone's ideas, so you would find out who they hosted with, then threaten that host just didn't exist. The consolidation is definitely an issue, but social media is the cancer of the internet.
Things like this are we drove me to leave the Democrat (and Republican) parties. The Establishment candidates/representatives talk about the danger of media censorship then do nothing to address it. The ultimate reality of censorship is that the people who are harmed the most are those it claims to protect.
Would you rather spend years building up a relationship with someone only to find out they fundamentally disagree on something important to you? Or find out early on and spend that time building relationships with others whose beliefs will not cause such a divide? Though the former scenario is possible even when speech is truly free, it is far more likely when censorship is present. In other words, the ultimate failing of speech censorship is that it will simultaneously shield one from harsh words while exposing them to harsh characters; on the internet, anyone can say nice things but it takes a good person to back them up.
Ironically, what drove me to this community was Reddit’s attempts to silence it. Though I differ from POTUS on many fronts, I would lay down my life for his right to speak them freely. You all deserve a voice, regardless of what I, or anyone else, thinks about what about the words you speak (or write); one cannot choose to agree or disagree with a stance if it is not allowed to be expressed in the first place.
i made this same argument decades ago in a freshmen college class after a controversial person was allowed to continue to preach on campus grounds - "i would rather live in a society where I know if I am associating with a racist from my first interaction through his words, then have to discover it through his actions over the course of our relationship. Having less information has never been an asset."
Words to live by (your quote, that is).
A similar thing happened at my university during my time there. My argument for allowing them to speak was always along the lines of what you said; let them speak so that I can make the decision to accept/reject their message rather than my university.
A nice write-up and i appreciate your perspective. I would suggest that every little company and startup that succumbed to the allure of millions or billions of dollars being dangled in front of them by a big corporation are also to blame.
You suggest helping to fund new and innovative companies, and that’s a great idea, but unless those companies are owned by people who make a stand on principle and resist pressure from large corporations (and their own investors) , the cycle will continue
Amen to that. Selling out to Google has literally been a business model for startups. It's a testament that the meaning of 'work' has been degraded in our country. These sellouts were cowards. Used to drive me insane every time I heard an independent website I loved sold out to one of these bastards. Then my MBA friends would tell me, "No, that's what it's all about! They really did great!" Dumb fucks. Better to own a small farm and be able to feed your family then be slave in nice clothes on the plantation.
this is the dumbest take ever. You don't work your ass off for 16 hours a day for years just to go "Nah, I don't want any reward for my success".
small, innovative companies selling out to liberal mega-corporations is part of the problem.
If you have a successful product and business model, then you’ll succeed on your own without having to sell out.
They’re within their rights to sell for a huge profit, but we were discussing how we got to where we are today with regards to a handful of liberal companies monopolizing information and technology.
Easter Bunny! It’s nice to see you.
Always good to see you too. :-)
The 15 year period from around 1995-2010 was unparalleled in terms of innovation. Every year we had something new. Windows 95, Bittorrent, Wikipedia, Youtube, iPhone, apps for everything imaginable. Now it seems everything has come to a halt. Oh wow, magsafe iphones. This will utterly revolutionize our world.
Convince me that Palantir isn't a government funded "start up" - and I'll have some hope. Otherwise, they are funding - with our money - the tools that oppress us (see google, facebook, Palantir)
Then some 16 year old kid DOES come up with something new and cool... and they get bought out - again with our own money.
You need to make your own decision here.
Personally, I'm not on the Parler train. I will not submit paperwork to be part of a community. Those are not my ideals.
I don't know what the answer is here, gab and quodverum are doing things the way I would prefer.
Since you took the time to write your OP: 34 years ago I was recruited by the NSA. I was the perfect candidate. But my analytical skills were too good: When they offered me a paltry sum to join, I already knew how much I could earn in the engineering world. There was no way I could accept the NSA's offer.
So they had a problem. The "best and brightest" had no reason to join them. And then when the dot com stuff kicked in, they had an even bigger problem. If I joined google, I'd make millions. If I joined the NSA (et al) I'd be locked into a dark office for years.. trying to reach the golden retirement age. One life burnt out for a cushy retirement - while missing out at google type opportunities.
So they solved that problem.. with Palantir styled works. their work is solid, but you can't argue with government funded startups. Locked in contracts for lots of money, plush salaries... enough capital to do anything they want (including buying out most of Palo Alto's office space).
Haven't seen anything written about this, but it seems pretty clear to me what happened.
Here ya go: https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-cia-and-nsa-research-grants-for-mass-surveillance/
Thanks. yes. Google grew a little too quickly, in my opinion, to be shoe string/VC only backed.
Not Parler, he means Palantir. They do govt contracting. Some kind of data analysis firm with all the alphabet people. The founder is actually pretty based and has said he created it with 'protection' against abuse....but once they decide he's a no longer of use they'll find a way to get what they want.
Interview: https://www.bitchute.com/video/OMJQhVosLRA/
I thought that said Parler LOL
Very familiar with Peter Thiel. He's based in his own way, I'm unclear where he fits into this all tbh. I know he's right in the middle of it all, silently and under the radar.
Good question. Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale seem to both be mostly based. But Lonsdale appears more so. Thiel backed Trump, yet paypal has banned several conservatives from their service. So, I don't get it.
It is government backed. The NAVY had a hand in this startup and now it is all over the DON.
Don't forget In-Q-Tel!
They have devalued their product, dissatisfied their customers and now they come to an end.
Which is how things should operate under Free market enterprise,
What I hope doesn't happen is Government starts dishing them out billions of dollars to prevent them from "failing", like they did with airlines and other industries that NEEDED to go out of business.
This has happened in my country countless times, now our main source of media is literally owned by the government. Natural gas infrastructure now also owned by the federal government, and so on and so forth.
We must cut the head off of the Government Hydra or else its corruption will manifest itself into these failed Goliaths and fortify them into a monopoly forced on its people by government.
We're just being shown how bad all of it is.
On the other side, these companies will have to be completely dismantled and broken up. At this point, I don't think anyone will disagree. Moreover, they all put themselves in a corner when lying about everything weeks ago in front of congress. Just made the point.
Kinda makes you wonder... has it all been a trap?
I'd put it to you that its worse that that - prime examples are everywhere in the last few days.
Innovation is led by small businesses that dont have the process overhead of committees and approvals and all the bureaucracy that comes with, they can get stuff done fast. What happens to this model when a howling mob of masked terrorists turns up at the data centre where their servers are hosted with molotovs to 'own the nazis' ? What happens when their banks are threatened with demands to close their business account? Or the local council in the district in which their offices are headquartered get their staff threatened with death by mobs that turn up at their homes in the middle of the night?
No innovator ever had the burden of rampaging open organised crime to deal with as well as all the other barriers to success for any embryonic new business venture.
Of course the free market abhors a vacuum - when there is a compelling case to hire mercenary companies to go out and discreetly kill saboteurs and stick their bodies in abandoned shop premises without any disclosure to authorities of the day, that's going to happen. We are talking black markets, no law and order, post collapse USSR type stuff here.
Does anyone really want to live in a madmax ancap hellscape paradise though?
I've said for a while that the internet died around the time that the smartphone went mainstream. When the average person got the internet in their hands 24/7 the big players moved to consolidate and make sure that the majority of the content that everyone viewed was theirs.
Even still, we've seen the same thing happen in mass media. We've gone from dozens of media companies to just a few.
IMO, monopoly laws in general need to be stricter so that no company can control even more than 1/3 of the domestic marketplace and also make mergers & acquisitions much more difficult. These big companies aren't just buying small companies to consolidate their power, they're buying smaller companies so that they don't have to innovate. Instead, buy someone else's ideas and integrate them into your monolith.
Can confirm. Also a based IT guy starting in the late 80's and heavy into early internet.
The 90's was definitely the golden years of the internet. Everything you think the internet should be, it was then. No big corporations, freely exchanged ideas and information, innovative ideas everywhere. Social media was publishing you own web page by creating it in a text editor. I remember being super excited when HTML first started supporting frames!
I think its too fucked to ever get back to those days. Too much corporate interest and feeding the normies their social media crack. I'd love to see a smaller, nerdier, underground net be created. What is out there is dominated my black hats and not worth it.
This! Also, Gov seed + watering money
I can't wait to degooglfy my phone without jumping through hoops.
What a fun read.
Still remember the days of using punched cards in some of my early computer science degree assignments. Learning Fortran and Pascal. A 386 PC was a big deal. Getting my husband a 1 MB hard drive for his computer was this HUUUGE Christmas present.
If you didn't build a personal site on Geocities GTFO
WELL SAID FREN
Thank you for taking the time to write this, very well written and speaks the absolute truth!
excellent!
Great post, I had doomer like response to another pede in this thread. An internet 2.0 could be the change agent that reinvigorates the economy.
Internet 2.0 will come, but it would need to be wireless. Individual citizens with individual devices that could at least talk with folks in surrounding areas.....like HAM Radio. The government would never let new hard lines be laid. Crony Caps will kill that.
I think you forgot to combine the consolidation with the integration of government programs like PRISM. The Patriot Act turned the civilian applications into weapons.
Have a bump!
A reboot is not required, just a restart of the program. And even then, that's only if the application doesn't have a plugin system. The bigger question is, why the fuck is ANY secure system running windows?
ThatsTheJoke.jpg haha.
How's that old saying go?
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Well said fren!
You wrote so much text! (And I enjoyed every last word).
Very interesting
Excellent testimony, based Tech Pede! May God bless you and his angels guide us in our ways!
why the right isnt making banks, payment processors , thier own media and amazon is funny, all they need to do is to ensure that they dont sell out and the customers make sure they stay loyal, they also needs to have backup ready so they too dont try it, and we need to take back education, and ensure the principles of these firms dont change
Stick this post! This is about the future. The world will not be the same.
Great post!
Great post.
There's a old-ish business book you'd probably like called From Barbarians To Bureaucrats.
I grew up on the internet man. It has turned into such shit.
Well put. I guess its time I make my site. Probably should have done it two years ago. More later. Wouldn't want to get ahead of myself.
this video goes over a lot of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuRuFj5c0bE
the title is kinda misleading
I grew up secretly keeping my step-dad’s phone unplugged overnight so I didn’t get disconnected during an overnight download if like 15-20 megabytes on the 7k modem. I miss the early years of the internet. It was slower than molasses but we all had all the patience in the world. What a wonderful it was.
Back in the day I ran several websites and email servers from a dedicated line in my basement. A bitch to get up and running but once there I had complete freedom. Might do it again if I can find a non-communist provider.
100% I think it's important to consider how much H1B killed the spirit of innovation. The indian and chinese immigrants are, in my experience, devoid of creativity and embrace a hierarchical "just following orders" style. They are indentured servants, after all, so I'm not judging them for it.
Awesome read!!
Back then you could make a million dollars by selling 1000x1000 pixels on your webpage for 1 dollar each. What a time to be alive! :-)
www.milliondollarhomepage.com
Awomen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathetic_dot_theory
Thank you for your insightful post. I read it all.
I was part of the early days 1993 - 2003. It’s a different world now with different people who have different goals. But your words have truth and ring with hope. Let’s all pray that is enough.
I hate to say this but it's like this in just about every industry. Complete control by cartels of companies that have gotten unlimited low interest bank loans and drove away all competition through multiple recessions. This is why the bible warned us about usury.
Beautifully put, thank you for your insight.