Conversation

For one brief shining moment in the 1980s-1990s, it seemed like we the people would own and control our own computing infrastructure.

That we wouldn't ever after need permission from opaque central authorities to process data, send messages, create devices, teach machines ideas. No corporations or governments could put themselves between us and the data bits in our machines. We would be free to think.

That moment is rapidly slipping into a history that feels ridiculously over-optimistic.