this whole thread is emblematic of a perspective i see a lot in hobbyist/decentralized/whatever web spaces that really bothers me, that seems to center around nostalgia for a era of discovery and free expression in personal computing that represents the true & good essence of computers, but has been perverted and is soon to be destroyed by software corporations. not only is this perspective ahistorical (the wealth creation that's defined california from its inception, that in part enabled the development of mass market personal computing, has always been a product of wanton disregard for the Other on the part of the individuals creating the wealth, computers were conceived as another development in a series of communications & control technologies meant to benefit state & corporate powers, etc.) but it's ironically far too quick to surrender control over the doctrines of computer use to the software corporations, to an an irrational degree (the outrage is contingent on the idea that there's absolutely no means by which you can easily communicate or acquire information on the internet anymore that isn't mediated by manipulative algorithms, and no means by which individuals can begin facilitating such things right now, which is nonsense). it's true that communications technology is ultimately subject to monopolies on violence, and in that sense might not ever be truly "free", but i don't think it's possible for one power to enclose all possibilities simply because of how ubiquitous and complex assemblages of communications technologies have become, not to mention the inherent incompleteness of any formal system that exists even before its practical limitations come into play. any productive perspective on the social role of computers ought to acknowledge both the historical facts behind their creation and the intrinsic potential for their subversion, rather than seeking a retreat into an idealized past, which is ultimately enclosed within the aforementioned historical facts whose consequences the people in the thread are incredulous about