The great dream of the 90s was that information would set us free. 30 years later, we know how naive that was. Information is EASIER to control and distort now. Authoritarianism is far more viral than liberty. Tyrannies fare better in the information space than free nations.
People were supposed to joyously compete, cooperate, and challenge each other with the Internet. It worked that way for a little while, but then people started forming mobs to dominate and harass their enemies. Instead of glorious chaos, mere anarchy was loosed upon the world.
Emerging from the Cold War, our politicians and theorists were convinced ignorance was the only thing that kept tyrannies afloat. Once their people had access to the worldwide network of knowledge, it would be impossible to keep them in line. Wildfires of liberty would spread.
Those dreamers dramatically underestimated the ability of authoritarian states to adapt to the Internet and control it. They absurdly overestimated the ability of economic, cultural, and information "engagement" to liberalize the unfree world.
As with every other globalist endeavor, the creators of the Internet did not set requirements for freedom to participate in the new planetary network. In a rush of idealism and greed, they let every state climb aboard without using a brief moment of leverage to demand reforms.
The folly of the Internet era was really the latest iteration of the same mistake the free world keeps making - or, if you prefer, the same trick that keeps getting played on us: mistaking theoretical "liberty" for real, concrete, enforceable FREEDOM.
Information doesn't "set you free." Capitalism, constitutionalism, and simple laws universally enforced are what make people free. When those are compromised, any information medium can be corrupted to serve tyranny. In fact, info is more likely to be corrupted than not.
Once ownership of property and labor are compromised, the constitutional restraints on government are shattered, and the elite can exempt themselves from incomprehensible laws, information is just water sloshing over jagged rocks. The rocks remain, no matter how deep the water.
With the other instruments of authoritarianism sharpened and wielded in strong hands, information isn't that much of a problem. It can easily be perverted to make people less free, to turn them against each other, to push the "benefits" of authority while concealing its sins.
We created the Internet as a means of spreading intellectual freedom, but we didn't really use it to send the actual message of freedom. The means was not the message, and now the means has fallen largely into the hands of tyrants.
And we've learned over these painful decades of the Information Age that "intellectual freedom" matters far less than practical, tangible, real freedom. Dreams are wonderful, but what you can DO is what really matters. Does anyone doubt we're allowed to DO less than in 1991? /end
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