Woke up this morning to an EFF podcast and the realization that Alex “Bill S. Preston Esq. from ‘Bill & Ted'” Winter is an unlikely supporter for my novel Mesh. That’s an awesome way to kick off the second half of any week! It all begins and ends with EFF’s ‘Fixing the Internet’ podcast, so strap in and lets take a deep dive into Alex Winter and what makes him a supporter of Mesh, even if he doesn’t realize it.
I have varied opinions of the EFF but I can respect the effort. They want to fix the Internet and although I agree the Internet can and should be better, we disagree on fundamental ways that it could be improved. Besides which, fixing the Internet isn’t my business – my business is storytelling. I just happen to tell stories where the Internet becomes something that people fix and that’s the springboard into adventure.
The Convergence
But we agree on some interesting points. Winter points out (correctly) that one of the Internet’s core values is its ability to create communities that would otherwise not exist. Additionally, the agenda-based rhetoric on future technology harms the necessary civil discourse on what our futures should become. Alex Winter is absolutely right: “They convince the public that this is all beyond them, and they should … leave it to the experts.” We can’t afford not to look at the Internet and the handful of people who run it, scrutinize them for agendas, motives, affiliation, and orientation.
The good news is that people inherently despise being boxed in. Every historical attempt to create a technological ‘walled garden’ has failed. Phone companies in the early 1900s tried and failed at ‘walled gardens.’ AOL tried, and failed. Apple Ping tried and failed. Nintendo’s Wii U Miiverse tried and failed. ‘Mobile wireless internet walled gardens’ failed. If toxic actors try to turn the Internet itself into a walled garden, that will fail too.
We’ve been marching toward a major inflection point in human tech literacy over the past 30 years. People break off to form their own communities and that’s a great thing, too! “[T]hey don’t have to just use one place that the internet is filled with little communities that they could go to to talk to their friends.”
All of this is why I think Alex Winter and the EFF would love Mesh.
The Confluence
One of Mesh’s inciting ideas took what Winter said about media and digital literacy, and went a step further. What would a true cultural revolution look like in the 21st Century? What if you decided – just like people are doing with Twitter and Reddit – to move off the Internet entirely? We don’t have to be here, people!
Enter the entire Mesh premise: Roman’s visit home turns into a life-or-death race. Initially, Miramar Technical High School seemed like a geek’s paradise with cutting-edge tech and a promising future. However, Roman and his friends uncover that their secret project is part of their principal’s plan for global domination, forcing them into a high-stakes battle using retro spy tech to save the world.
It’s not just fiction. Young people have changed the world many times before and they still can. The next generation could decide – looking at the dusty tech going to waste we have floating around – to build their own network, make their own rules, and escape the ecto-dystopic ruin that our current Internet has become. Imagine what a shot across the bow that would be to the bloated status quo of oligarchic tech companies, 21st century robber barons, and techbro carpetbaggers.
Of course, it’ll take a special kind of kid to take on that challenge. They’ll have to realize that power doesn’t come from a superpower, that change first must come from inside, and that ‘Stars in a Jar’ need the right level of support to achieve. They will also need to realize that their energy can harm, as well as help – so they need assistance to choose wisely.
I’m glad to know that Alex Winter is that kind of person. Admittedly, I’ve been sleeping on his work but I’m happy to see that he’s just as much an ardent supporter of a kind, human, rational future as I am. Even though we disagree on certain points, the connections are more powerful than the nodes – just like any other network in existence.
Wrapping Up
Yes, ‘the building blocks of proper internet literacy are being set.’ That means we are traveling toward a future where bias and manufactured outrage as means of control no longer exist. In order to get there, we’re going to have to work together. I’m grateful that other people see the challenge and the opportunity, too. Until we get there, like Winters says at the end of the interview: ‘we just have to kind of keep chipping away at it.’
Like the How to Fix the Internet podcast, I’m grateful to Alex Winter and I think he might be an unlikely Mesh supporter. That’s a good thing! I’m grateful for anyone using his skills, talents, and platforms to lift up ordinary people with online communities. This is how we’ll move into the future. Bravo!
