While I admire your optimism I think that AI will snuff out journalists/writers/artists regardless of the merit of their work. While that is possibly beneficial when looking for some factual data I think we will face a crisis when it comes to creative, investigative and critical content. Like garden hose of original work spraying against a tsunami of undisclosed generative media.
I think you make some valid points about server and network ownership but I think the mid to late 2000s had an interesting blend of corporate and personal internet spaces. Yes there were some leviathans MySpace and Facebook, but a lot of the places that had relevancy were forums, portals or imageboards. Hell, YTMND was an early example of a individual hosting and building a massive site out of complete nonsense. That landscape has certainly changed significantly since.
Yanko design is a name I haven’t seen in quite some time. Some of the dumbest, impractical, and downright impossible concepts have been featured on this blog.
Two memorable examples were the “magnetic” exercise weight set that would have to violate physics in order to function and a refrigerator made of green goo that would somehow preserve food.
Oh and “hubless wheels” anything that rolls needs hubless wheels.
Finally started Vampire Survivors so that’s all I’m playing ATM