In the beginning we were told that the Internet would usher in a new age of human enlightenment. People from all over the world would share their ideas and opinions in digital forums, leading to an educated, global discourse on any topic imaginable–harnessing the combined brainpower to create a better future. People would finally come together in harmony, being connected.
That was the Zeitgeist in the mid-nineties, at the dawn of the public internet.
Thirty years later, instead of thoughtful debates ad rem, we see ad hominem and ad personam attacks ad nauseam.
Alas! Where and when did it all go wrong? And how could we have been so naive in thinking that humans behind a screen would behave any better than in open public?
