I don’t recall the Internet being such an unwieldy, unsatisfying experience as it is today. One would expect the promise of technology to disappoint from a technical point of view. It was too complex to solve, we need to work on simpler steps before we build something that big. That would be acceptable. It’s a big plane, it won’t be easy to get off the ground, etc.

But what do we do when the disappointment comes from the experience itself. I don’t fart around on the Internet anymore in search of the new or novel like I once did. Not for technical reasons but for the simple fact that it is too damn boring. The way we communicate to each other is insipid. Did you see Kimmel crush Cruz? No, why would I? Will Cruz slink away after said crushing? Does Kimmel get to move in Cruz’s house as an award for beating him with a more talented group of writers? Why would I care about something where nothing happens and nothing of consequence is the result? Is that not the definition of nothing? And is not the experience of nothing, less than nothing?

There are stories of consequence. But these are presented as intractable forms of negative partisanship. There’s a fatalism that exists on both the left and right. The true conspiracy is in support of the status quo. You’re supposed to be turned off. You’re supposed to not care.