The Future of the Internet

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The boltenbord system community, especially in the 19 eighties, was predominantly men. It was predominantly excessed from people of means who had the leisur time and monetary resources. The use of the internet for everyday social activity has spread across many different demographic categories that you might be interested in. So this is never a call to go back, but rather a search for real models of living systems that we could use to expand how we think about the present.

Paris Marx is joined by Kevin Driscoll to discuss the networks and services built by volunteers and hobbyists on top of the telephone network before the internet took over the in the 1990s, and what it can teach us about the internet and social media today.

Kevin Driscoll is the author of The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media and an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevindriscoll.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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