January 3, 2013 | 36 notes

Is the Internet Turning Us Into a Nation of Hate-Filled Trolls? It’s taken a while for this prophecy to come true, a while for this mode of communication to replace and degrade political conversation, to drive out any ambiguity. Or departure from the binary. But it slowly is turning us into a nation of hate-filled trolls. Surprisingly, [Jaron] Lanier tells me it first came to him when he recognized his own inner troll—for instance, when he’d find himself shamefully taking pleasure when someone he knew got attacked online. “I definitely noticed it happening to me,” he recalled. “We’re not as different from one another as we’d like to imagine. So when we look at this pathetic guy in Texas who was just outed as ‘Violentacrez’…I don’t know if you followed it?” “I did.” “Violentacrez” was the screen name of a notorious troll on the popular site Reddit. He was known for posting “images of scantily clad underage girls…[and] an unending fountain of racism, porn, gore” and more, according to the Gawker.com reporter who exposed his real name, shaming him and evoking consternation among some Reddit users who felt that this use of anonymity was inseparable from freedom of speech somehow. “So it turns out Violencacrez is this guy with a disabled wife who’s middle-aged and he’s kind of a Walter Mitty—someone who wants to be significant, wants some bit of Nietzschean spark to his life.” Only Lanier would attribute Nietzschean longing to Violentacrez. “And he’s not that different from any of us. The difference is that he’s scared and possibly hurt a lot of people.” - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com. Photo of Jaron Lanier by: Robert Holmgren

Is the Internet Turning Us Into a Nation of Hate-Filled Trolls?

It’s taken a while for this prophecy to come true, a while for this mode of communication to replace and degrade political conversation, to drive out any ambiguity. Or departure from the binary. But it slowly is turning us into a nation of hate-filled trolls.

Surprisingly, [Jaron] Lanier tells me it first came to him when he recognized his own inner troll—for instance, when he’d find himself shamefully taking pleasure when someone he knew got attacked online. “I definitely noticed it happening to me,” he recalled. “We’re not as different from one another as we’d like to imagine. So when we look at this pathetic guy in Texas who was just outed as ‘Violentacrez’…I don’t know if you followed it?”

“I did.” “Violentacrez” was the screen name of a notorious troll on the popular site Reddit. He was known for posting “images of scantily clad underage girls…[and] an unending fountain of racism, porn, gore” and more, according to the Gawker.com reporter who exposed his real name, shaming him and evoking consternation among some Reddit users who felt that this use of anonymity was inseparable from freedom of speech somehow.

“So it turns out Violencacrez is this guy with a disabled wife who’s middle-aged and he’s kind of a Walter Mitty—someone who wants to be significant, wants some bit of Nietzschean spark to his life.”

Only Lanier would attribute Nietzschean longing to Violentacrez. “And he’s not that different from any of us. The difference is that he’s scared and possibly hurt a lot of people.” - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.

Photo of Jaron Lanier by: Robert Holmgren

June 5, 2012 | 23 notes

In 1996, this is what LEGO’s Homepage Looked Like This homepage from ‘96 is just plain fun. The site offers a membership to the “LEGO Surfer Club,” with “free downloads of Wallpapers, Screensavers and Videoclips,” but it wouldn’t be complete without the LEGO animated .gifs. - Read more on the evolution of the homepage. Screenshot: Internet Archive: Wayback Machine Ed note: A small part of us still wishes the LEGO site looked like this.

In 1996, this is what LEGO’s Homepage Looked Like

This homepage from ‘96 is just plain fun. The site offers a membership to the “LEGO Surfer Club,” with “free downloads of Wallpapers, Screensavers and Videoclips,” but it wouldn’t be complete without the LEGO animated .gifs. - Read more on the evolution of the homepage.

Screenshot: Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

Ed note: A small part of us still wishes the LEGO site looked like this.

April 2, 2012 | 5 notes

Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet in 1974

In an interview with ABC in 1974, futurist, author and inventor Arthur C. Clarke predicts that in the year 2001 we will be able to check our bank statements, theater reservations and all the information we need for everyday life from the comfort of our home.

Ed note: Our Paleofuture blog has many more bold predictions made about the future.