To begin, we might need to remind ourselves what the internet was made for. What is possible with the tools we've been given. What we can create and produce going forward. Is digital freedom achievable? What must we do to create a place for free thought and collective communion? With our digital dreams, it is possible. With cyberspace, the possibilities are endless.
Every change starts with an idea, and every idea starts with a dream. To dream is to imagine what can be possible. To believe in better (or worse) circumstances. The internet as it stands presents opportunities for both progression and degression. Current users of the internet tend toward degression. Towards negativity. Towards meanness. But what if we collectively decideded on progression?
This manifesto will consist of two parts. We will first look at where we are. Then we will look at where we want to be.
We are at a crossroads. The internet has become toxic, filled with countless powerless people yearning for power through the means of cyberbullying. We must reject the notion that negativity is the norm. We can stop enduring the social, cultural, and digital virality of meanness and embrace the possibilities of something more. Something substantial. "But how can we do it?" You say. You wonder if we are beyond reproach. That the internet is beyond fixing. I'm here to tell you: it's not. That with willpower and might, we can create our own utopia.
What we can dream of, we can make better. We have the power to control how we connect. The powerless can become powerful. The internet is what we make of it. Just because something is a certain way doesn't mean it always has to be that way. There is power in numbers. There will always be power in numbers. Whatever we can dream, we can do.
You might continue to ask: how can we DO this? Are we past the possibiliy of a positive internet? To that I say "No, it's still possible. It's always been possible." We can do it by electing to build community. By helping others. By doing good. This manifesto is for the dreamers. For the believers. For the innovators. This manfesto aims to ask: what would happen if we did something good?