Confirm or Deny: Jaron Lanier - The New York Times

Excerpts:

"Al Gore invented the internet. 

Confirm. The packet-switched networks had been around for a long time. But the internet’s a political invention. And yeah, he should be remembered much more prominently than he is as a creator of it.

[...] 

The internet is just a passing fad. 

I’ve actually thought about that quite a lot. That’s a profound question. Because most of us who worked on it thought, “O.K., this will be here forever and this is the thing.” But it’s turning out so badly. I mean, I feel like it’s such a failure on so many important levels, that it’s conceivable that people will decide it’s over and try to do some other form of digital networking. The internet might be remembered as a failed thing. It breaks my heart to even think that, and I hope it isn’t true, but I’m beginning to wonder."

Confirm or Deny: Jaron Lanier - The New York Times