Silicon Valley, 1990s: Free and open access to all the world’s knowledge will usher a new utopian age of information!

Silicon Valley, 2025:

That just made think of all the feckless elites in America today who theoretically want the power to change things, but never want it to cost them anything.

(Disclaimer: I have yet to see a message from anyone else. Still trying to figure out why with the people on the SoCalMesh Discord.)

I got kind of interested in it after the fires and decided to dip a toe in. The device in the photo is like $50 so I figured I’d get one to experiment with it.

It’s kinda like HAM radio, but for data. Creates a giant mesh network using unregulated radio frequency bands. You can connect one of these devices to your phone via Bluetooth and communicate with people. Theoretically.

Anyway, just wanted to get that hot take out there before the inevitable essays on the topic.

Spoiler alert I guess, but…

When Carol talks to representatives of the hive mind, it reminds me of the way conversing with an LLM has the uncanny quality of talking to everyone and no one at the same time. Also, the weirdly familiar, overly solicitous, customer service-y tone.

Yep, they might not have thought this through bsky.app/profile/elec...