Anil,
Come on, man.
“You must imagine Sam Altman holding a knife to Tim Berners-Lee’s throat.”
I’m not doing that because you and most people left the open web for Apple, Google and their little rectangles. Y’all basked in algorithms for 15 years and now you’re writing nonsense.
Y’all –online tech pundits- have destroyed the open web by selling your souls to social media/tiny devices that made you popular and now y’all crying at AI destroying things, allegedly. This is lame.
If the open web is “dying” because of AI, so is all social media and non-open internet. It’s bots. Algorithms. Trash. It’s been a decade+ of that already. AI has nothing to do with it. AI supercharges everything, that’s all.
“The open web is something extraordinary: anybody can use whatever tools they have, to create content following publicly documented specifications, published using completely free and open platforms, and then share that work with anyone, anywhere in the world, without asking for permission from anyone. Think about how radical that is.”
It’s not that radical. It’s the basis of so many human behaviors out there: do something, show it if you want, done.
It only feels radical today because y’all have sold your souls to countless platforms. You sold it all for engagement and metrics and little lines going up inside silos where as an adult having sex, you will not be able to write fuck without getting flagged/banned. So now the open web feels radical to y’all.
I didn’t flinch. I stayed on the open web. I never believed in engagement like that. What’s engaging is writing things down, genuinely trying to share something. That always feels good no matter how many people read it. The open web was never just about building businesses or getting rich via rizz. It’s always been about sharing and sharing does not have to make money. Wild concept, I know!
Y’all get on my nerves with your fake ass concern. I see you writing about Apple on its way to kill RSS, the backbone of podcasts. You write as if Apple gave a damn! That is concerning because it is obvious that they do not give a single fuck about RSS, the open web or democracy. They never embraced the tech, how dare you act like they did! RSS worked and it was free. There’s no belief here. They care about locking people in and dollars. They are opportunistic as fuck and you act like you don’t see that. I don’t believe you, you’re too smart. You knew and you know what’s up. That’s why this kind of article trying to save something that you willingly left behind, that you never really fought for, feels corny.
Because if you really wanted to save RSS, you would write “y’all, get the fuck off GoogApple devices immediately, grab laptops, update your browser, use UBlock Origin 100% of the time and subscribe to RSS feeds, or create a podcast, it’s just an xml file with a download link, one love”. Then I would believe you. But you write some “please talk to your Apple representative” as if that was going to change anything. The word pathetic comes to mind.
For the open web the solution is very simple: get the fuck on the open web. Delete your Reddit account, your Insta account, your god knows what account. Start a website, think and write shit down. Teach yourself the goddamn basics of web hosting (use AI for that, it will help) and create your own shit.
But nobody wants to do that. It’s much easier to tap a button on a phone while being anonymous and bored at a traffic light. AI has nothing to do with it.