Internet

The internet has been a big part of my life since 2008. I distinctly remember watching YouTube on my Uncle Scott's computer at his apartment in Chicago. While I have had stunts putting myself online via YouTube or Twitter, I wonder how the net will evolve throughout the years.

The early internet fascinates me, seeing the older aethestics and design choices of the early web, I look back at it with awe at the designs that people used. Looking at early sites, like ifindit.com, or allny.com, really put it into perspective on how exactly we are moving into the future.

My parents were in college when the World Wide Web really began to take off. My dad worked at a computer store called Microcenter, and he recalls how when he worked there in college the 100gb harddrive was seen as absurd, and only needed for commercial purposes. They went through college through one of societies biggest shifts in terms of technology, having professors who wouldn't allow for printed papers, only typed on a typewriter, or handwritten. I am 21 years old now. When I was 16, Ai technology really begin to enter the mainstream, with Wombo.ai deepfakes allowing people to make deepfakes of them singing songs. Entering my senior year, 18 years old, I saw the rollout of ChatGPT, and saw what exaclty Ai could do for the future. I remember seeing some of the lower performing students who suddenly became masterclass writers using ChatGPT to finish senior year of highschool, while the people who actually put in the work would be cast aside.

AI scares me. I worry that one day I will be put out of a job because of computerization and AI. In the last year, I saw AI get rolled out that could do such good redraws and great quality images. I fear what AI will do by the time I graduate, or even 2030. I sit here halfway through the 2020s, what does the future hold?

Regardless, The internet has been a good thing for me. I have met some wonderful people because of it, form MineCraft to Twitter, some of the best people I know come form the internet. I want to keep the internet free, and I think allowing free speach online is a good thing. Taylor, someone who I hold so dear to me, I met because of Twitter. I keep in touch with people thousands of miles away instantly, where 30-40 years ago it would take days or weeks. I have a lot of feelings about the internet, and one day I will go more in depth about it.