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Sorry not to be thrilled to my philosophical shoes. I think I've read this article before.
Nevertheless, I think the internet is on the whole positive. It has allowed more information to be distributed quickly to many more people. It has allowed inter-activity, more than any other medium. It has become a global network, linking the world together. It has reduced prices, in many different ways.
Since I consider most 'gatekeepers' to be almost useless, I do not bemoan their fate. They are for the most part gatekeepers for the people in power. Now authority has to be EARNED - like Glenn Greenwald or Mr. Stiglitz, we listen because they actually know something.
However, this whole airy debate about 'pessimism' and 'optimism' misses the material roots of opinions and struggle. The 'real' world of classes, sexes, nations and ethnicities is not going away - it is, after all, the ground on which the internet rests.
