We've been dependent on various infrastructures for centuries. Up until fairly recent times, the only two places on Earth that could really support large numbers of people were the east China plains and the Ganges basin, and even they had to be able to get the food they produced distributed to their populations or they would have massive loss of life. And those pre-modern distribution systems were prone to failure and manipulation. We're all more vulnerable than we want to admit to, and dependent on an awful lot of infrastructure for survival, and that was true long before the Internet came about.

Social media is bad, yes. We don't need to see or keep in touch with everyone around the world, it's really stupid and just does more harm. Shut down all social media, not needed. Humanity would be better oof without it.

Probably turning or relatively recently turned negative. We were doing just fine even without it, but it seems pretty bad for democratic societies, so that's pretty bad. I like the internet and really want to say it's a net positive, but it's turning us against each other. I guess it's really just social media that sucks, but it wouldn't be possible without something like the internet.

It's definitely been a net positive for the most part.

But in the last few years... There has been a significant rise in fake information, A.I driven content and conspiracy theories. (I.E. Flat Earth, Anti-Vax, Anti-Climate change, Chemtrails and more) and unfortunately people have proven to be far to stupid to identify the fake information associated with those and in-turn they attempt to spread it as fact, whilst being unable to be convinced (even with evidence) otherwise.

They exist in their own echo-chamber.

So yes, the largest repository of information known to man has been a general net positive, but socially it's starting to be destructive... It will be interesting to see how the next 10 years will go, whether fake information and conspiracies will continue to dominate or not.

How did we ever survive before....

The net was good. worthwhile. now its being turned into something else thats not so good.

Negative. Although the internet made life easier for everyone, there was a time we lived without it and we managed to survive. Now, due the internet and social media, we live the era of post-truth and of the erosion of democracies

Positive until the smart phone. Negative in the time since. I hate to say it but I think the flow of information needs to be controlled to some extent, similar to the AI's goals in MGS2. Not policed but somehow filtered and reduced.... well, maybe policed a little. Someone who can't vote yet should not be debating or swaying the opinions of those who can. It's a tricky situation who find ourselves in, I would say the internet has become The Existential Elk but instead of our consciousness being the antlers it's this strange new extension of our consciousness. I feel like the Internet might actually cause our extinction if not handled properly.

Nothing comes close to compare with what the internet is nowdays, people, in the whole world, rely on it for so, so many things that if it was gone today, or if it was used against people by force, the world would face a crisis it has never experienced, because the internet is on everything, everywhere, and society has the potential to never be able to readjust completely if it is used against it.

In the case of it going off, people would die on many different ways (diseases, famine, conflicts, etc) for so many years, until we got a completely functional semi isolated society centric world again, that it would be an one of a kind event in human story.

Humans adapt, but gradually, the consequences of a kind of change something so spread like nothing ever was are literally world changing. It can and would affect literally every aspect of human life how it is now.

You can say the same for electricity (no internet plus many other insane problems), water supply and distribute chain systems, specially water, that is the most important resource that cannot be completely fucked up or the world literally ends for human society. On that aspect it has similar and worse potential catastrophic treats, indeed.

But on top of that, the internet has the most potential to makes humans screw humanity than any other thing tho, as I said on my original post, it's the biggest tool of social control ever, so the kind of manipulation is if subjective to is the worst, because it can mask itself as not a problem even when it has already become the biggest problem ever.

There is nothing worse than humanity screwing itself over, because then there is no common problem to be united to solve, like with problems regarding water, electricity, food, medicine, supply, etc.

I'm not that optimistic, in my view we're already on the net negative side.

The internet is fueling genocides already
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/amnesty-report-finds-facebook-amplified-hate-ahead-of-rohingya-massacre-in-myanmar

All the misinformation on the internet made the pandemic much worse, over 7 million dead.

People don't talk to each other anymore, instead fortify their beliefs in echo chambers weaponized with confirmation bias.


While the internet gives everyone access to all the information in the world, most people don't look further than anything that confirms their bias. Algorithms make sure to keep you on that confirmation bias. 

The internet is being turned into a form of thought control, as well as a means to profile dissenters. We're already at the stage of Minority report, except it's through whatever you say or read online, collected, distorted and used to arrest and deport people.

The internet with AI turn George Orwell's 1984 into reality.


And the internet has failed to mobilize people for the real threats humanity is facing, running out of potable water and climate change wreaking havoc on everything we depend on. Instead disinformation campaigns make sure we keep running like Lemmings of a cliff.

It was a positive, but now the internet is in the hands of a few tech billionaires that don't have the interest of humanity in mind.

My life has changed for the better through the internet as well. I got married and enjoy financial stability from my job in tech. But in the last 10 years it has become more and more detrimental. 

The vast amount of entertainment available online means we hardly every watch anything together as a family. Everyone has their own 'stream', their own series to follow.

The internet brings people together, but at the same time seems to drive people further apart.

(Perhaps I'm a bit too gloomy on this subject today, fall depression is hitting hard today)