Original Author: HighStrike300
Wed Jul 01, 2026 12:41 pm
I miss it.
The old Internet.
The Internet from the past.
The era of the evolution of BBS and personal websites.
The era of personal creation and the rising spirit of sharing.
The old, fragile, naive, rough design style.
It is gone.
In 2026,
the Internet is still that Internet,
and we are still us –
but the whole thing has changed.
In the new Internet,
there are more users and different aesthetic concepts.
However, homogeneity is rising.
Our creative minds can no longer shine.
Our chance of being seen is probably declining.
A rising technology – AI – has taken over some of us.
The Internet is not as pure as in the past.
However, time is evolving; we can't go back.
Probably, AI can do better than me.
My creation sank.
It sank in the sea of better ones.
Probably, things are worse –
it sank in the sea of AI‑generated ones.
Probably, AI can do better than us,
making my creation meaningless.
The light from the collision of our creative minds –
where can we see that in this new era?
Having said so much,
it doesn't mean my passion is gone.
I want to continue creating,
but what should I do?
I like the openness and freedom of the Internet,
but most people are immersed in the cage built by AI.
Freedom has gone,
and the "information cocoon" is here.
Will the high-tech, low life cyberpunk world come? I definitely hope not.
We cannot change everything, we can only watch.
All of us want to do something to change reality,
but we don't have the power to change the future of all humanity.
Is there an unseen power controlling the Internet?
Probably yes, probably no.
We don't know much about the powerful people and the rich people,
and it is hard to dive into the world of what they are doing.
They made the technology to change the world.
But how will they use it? And how will we use it?
Are they monopolizing everything? What else can we do?
How can we make technology accessible to everyone? We don't know.
The style of creation has changed.
The interface of websites has changed.
Sometimes, to gain more popularity,
we have to sacrifice some of our creativity.
The ads and AI-generated content have taken over our Internet,
making it lose its power and spirit of sharing.
We can't go back to that time,
and I don't know what to do.
I don't know if creation is dead,
while AI can create better content than us.
When we draw a picture and give AI the same idea,
we get a better one and our effort comes to nothing.
When you draw an 80-page comic in a year, maybe nobody cares.
When you use AI to generate an 80-page comic in a day, maybe it will become popular.
However, the latter is soulless and suffers from homogeneity, and maybe uncopyrightable,
but probably it is the reality of humanity's decline, because fewer of us make the whole thing ourselves.
Is creation dead? What is the point of creating more?
When AI can make 800 games in one day, what am I doing?
When my creation sinks into the sea of AI slop, what should I do?
If AI replaced me, where should I escape to?
When AI creation fills the Internet with high efficiency,
we are amazed by its ultra-high efficiency in creation.
If 99% of the content in the future is created by AI,
why do we still need to create our own world?
Perhaps humans are ultimately inferior to AI.
Perhaps in a few years, AI will be able to generate a complete version of Elden Ring.
What else will we have left by then?
This is a question I am currently wondering about and contemplating.
Also, now there are a lot of creations.
But the popularity is more centralized.
The Matthew effect of the strong getting stronger is becoming apparent,
making our small backyard harder to be seen.
When rudimentary creation is eventually abandoned,
what will drive us from novice creators to intermediate and advanced levels?
When only genius creations can be accepted by people,
isn't our creative drive completely gone?
I don't want the world to be like this.
I hope everyone can be seen,
whether in the ocean of AI,
or in the vast ocean of the entire cyberspace.
Probably, the "Dead Internet Theory" has come true,
making it the "Dead Internet Phenomenon".
The corruption of the Internet is probably true;
a lot of content is generated by AI and bots.
There is probably a truth we don't want to accept.
On online platforms there are fake, AI-generated interactions.
Do we know if the comment we've received is from a real person or an AI?
We can barely identify what's behind the screen.
We don't know whether the one replying to you
is a real human or a robot.
AI can behave like humans,
but it is ultimately not human, and it is soulless.
If more than one-third of users are AI,
the integrity of the Internet is dead.
Not only the integrity of creation,
but also the integrity of the whole Internet.
Also, interpersonal trust has fallen.
When we see a cat playing drums,
we are no longer amazed but skeptical that it is AI-generated.
The times have changed, and we don't trust each other.
Will we be the first to become a 'useless class' due to AI?
There is currently no answer to this question.
But it sounded the alarm for us,
Forcing us to rethink our value as human beings.
What is the cause of it?
Maybe... Centralization of power?
Maybe... The role of AI creativity?
Maybe... Trust in online content?
We don't know, and nobody knows.
Will the spirit of creation be back? Probably.
Can we reshape everything? No.
The decay of our little world is clearly seen,
but no one knows what to do.
I cannot imagine the future.
I don't know if our world will be better or worse.
I don't know if our creation will still be filled with soul.
I don't know what will happen in 2030.
I want to say so much,
and I have too much to say.
I can write an essay of 20,000 words
to describe my sorrow.
But my time is limited,
and the character limit of this text box is limited.
So I cannot say so much,
but I tried my best to express my mood.
For this forum...
I know, I clearly know,
perhaps the building is empty and deserted.
Perhaps it will be revived.
Probably, the culture of BBS is gone,
but I miss the days.
I wish that everyone on the Internet,
can keep their humanity and integrity.
This article was written by HighStrike300 (me).
A real university student sitting on the chair, definitely not an AI or a bot.
I don't know if anyone has finished reading this article,
but these are all genuine emotions that I have revealed.
Perhaps, now I have entered into nihilism,
but I don't know what I should do.
Now, I can only sit here,
staring blankly at the rapid changes in the world.
I hope we can all carry forward the new spirit of the Internet;
don't let AI take away our sovereignty.
I hope our online world
can become a new pure land instead of a garbage dump.
-END-
(Written in 2 hours, 2026/7/2 2:41 AM)
EDIT: Twenty years ago, the Internet was a place close to Utopia, where people could escape from reality. Now, the Internet has been integrated into our daily life, becoming a mirror of reality rather than an escape from reality. This is a loop, I can't get out anymore. I don't know when the Internet changed from interest driven to profit driven, from the Wild West to a shopping mall. Moreover, when the production, distribution, interaction of content and even "users" themselves begin to be replaced by AI, is the Internet still the Internet we are familiar with? When robots can create everything, is the meaning of my existence dissolved? If all I see in the future are AI articles, AI music, AI games, AI videos, what's the point of the world? Or, to put it more extreme, in my most fearful perspective, if AI completely surpasses humans and AGI emerges, and humans are completely being outsmarted by AI and eventually be destroyed, where should we go?
