Since you’re here, you probably agree the Internet is a pretty awesome place. It’s given us e-mail, memes, videos of cats playing piano, and more amazing lists than you can shake a proverbial stick at. It’s also freed up information and helped topple dictatorships. Not bad for something once dismissed as a passing fad.
But there are storm clouds gathering on the online horizon. Halfway through the second decade of the 21st century, it’s starting to look like our sunny utopia won’t last much longer. Across the world, cultural trends, governments, and corporations are uniting to suck what joy is left from the Internet, leaving it a shell of its former self.