Internet is often framed as a type of “Industrial Revolution” but it actually bears more parallels to the Renaissance which was a “Cultural Revolution” bc the shift internet made in society was about distribution of ideas, not commodity

— Audrey (@auderdy) May 10, 2019

Great, short thread. She’s right and Ian Welsh is wrong about the “internet didn’t change anything” supposition. First, it’s too soon to completely know what the internet changed, though it’s obvious a great deal has been altered cognitively and socially. Second, how likely is that we accelerate communication and information availability by thousands of times and nothing changes? When has that never changed society? All the time is how often that has never happened.

It’s like saying that radio and television had no consequences, changed nothing. It’s just prima facie absurd.