Yeah, that’s exactly it. Brewster Kahle gave the final talk of the conference, and between her and Radia Perlman (the hour before) it was like I was in an entirely different space. The veil had been liufted. They were talking about selfless work, contributing to a commons, thinking through what it means to bring the early dream of the web (the Library of Congress on your desktop) has been resisted by the corporations and governements that want to retain control at all costs. I was starting to remember why i got into this racket in the first place. That whole part wherein Hicks has his run-in with the “four-eyed” Bolshevik and is unable to kil him by some force outside his control. There is that moment in my own work I am trying to find out. Where is the point you see how pointless the muscle work is and build towards realizing the dream of all the great works of the world a click away, not just those the publishers and gatekeepers want us to have access to. There was a real sense that the means of control have only gotten greater in relationship to the web, and AI is just part and parcel now of digital borders and “homeland” security. The endgame is that much more insane then Web 2.0 when you think about it, and the general geopolitical unrest makes it all that much scarier. But I am better writing all this in this comment box then the post, because that would be too depressing. 🙂