When the World Wide Web came online, the world was mesmerized by the almost endless possibilities that unfurled in front of us. This new tool for global collaboration enabled anyone to access once-reserved knowledge and to communicate with people anywhere, instantaneously. Rather than walling off power exclusively with the elites in the center, the web pushed decision-making and agency out to the edges. Freedom, openness, and decentralization were now values that could help normal humans.
Image: Reuters/Shailesh Andrade
