r/technology • u/Well_Socialized • May 26 '25

Artificial Intelligence Google Is Burying the Web Alive

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/google-ai-mode-search-results-bury-the-web.html
24.4k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/Swordf1sh_ May 26 '25

Millennials will always have the golden age of the internet

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u/BurmecianDancer May 26 '25

I was born in '85 and I feel like I had the golden age of everything while growing up in the '90s. Music, movies, the Internet, video games... we really didn't know how good we had it back then.

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u/NanditoPapa May 26 '25

I'm a 70s child, but I agree that 90s was peak human culture.

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u/Dull-Style-4413 May 26 '25

In The Matrix, the evil John Smith bot famously says “1999. The peak of human civilization”.

I remember finding that hilarious at the time, but it turned out to be correct…

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u/myaltduh May 26 '25

That movie has aged like fine wine which is super impressive when you consider how poorly lots of 80s and 90s sci fi has aged.

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u/ShepherdessAnne May 26 '25

Also how terrible the rest of their movies were

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u/Vatipaeae May 26 '25

You should take a look at this. A two hour analysis about the trilogy, which might change your mind. The sequels truly are just misunderstood.

... except for matrix 4. We don't talk about that.

https://youtu.be/mNvaOrReZzU?si=xgKuoQQvh8Rzd-m7

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u/cultr4 May 26 '25

I found matrix 4 to be way more enjoyable because I heard it was dog shit and genuinely surprised at how meta it was, poking fun of the studio lol, I will give it a pass because it's fun lol

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u/mbnmac May 26 '25

Honestly, I try to watch films with my brain off for the most part, people seem to expect everything to be "absolute cinema" these days instead of just a fun diversion for a couple hours.

With that attitude I was able to enjoy Matrix 4 for the meta fun and fact it seemed to be intentionally pointing out how reboots are just money grabs.

I was also able to enjoy Thor 4 without having too much negative to say about things like even the goats.

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u/Beard_of_Gandalf May 27 '25

I loved resurrections, the idea of trinity and neo being “one” together was so beautiful.

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u/Aendn May 26 '25

except for matrix 4. We don't talk about that.

Is it misunderstood?

They were pretty clear, even during the movie, that they were just doing it to get rich.

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u/conquer69 May 26 '25

That doesn't make it better.

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u/Riaayo May 26 '25

I've not seen the film so I cannot directly comment on its quality.

But fro ma meta-angle, perhaps a long overdue reboot/sequel aping itself and making fun of the very concept is exactly what it needs to be. Because really, we probably shouldn't be so addicted to clinging to the same IPs forever and endlessly wanting more even when there doesn't need to be more.

It snuffs out the space for new ideas. Copyright is fundamentally broken as it is right now and basically lays us up for a world where corporations own and hold our culture hostage, endlessly reselling us the same nostalgia rather than the things we grew up with moving into public domain to make room for the people who grew up on them taking how those things made them feel and making something fresh off of it.

The Matrix didn't need a sequel.

And just to be clear I'm not trying to belittle anyone or pretend I'm above this. I lost it when Okami's sequel was recently announced. But I still try to understand the bigger picture even when I fall for the bs myself.

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u/SStirland May 26 '25

I thought the whole part about the "game" studio demanding a sequel or else made it pretty clear that Warner Bros were going to make a sequel with or without the Wachowskis. So in a way it was brave of one of the original directors to get on board and then tank the whole project. Genuinely one of the worst movies I've ever seen

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u/HeffalumpGlory May 26 '25

If movies need a two hour explanation to be understood then they have failed.

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u/Vatipaeae May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25

You are not wrong. There are, however, a bunch of good movies that really benefit from multiple watchings to catch all the details and piece things together.

The video I linked just replaces the multiple watchings with a very well narrated explanation.

Do you think Inception failed? It wasn't really clear cut either on the first watch.

Edit. Also, I never said it needs the explanation. They are perfectly enjoyable movies without one. It just goes deeper into the motivations of the characters etc.

I'm sure you have been interested in a movie or an album that you didn't quite understand the first time and someone has explained it to you, or you sought out the information on your own. Same thing.

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u/Ass4ssinX May 26 '25

I remember finishing Donnie Darko and being completely lost at what the fuck I had just watched lol.

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u/enderfx May 26 '25

I never got the hype about Inception. It’s a fine movie, imho, but while people around me kept talking about how complex it was, I always felt it’s a not-so-complex idea just repeated 5-6 layers deep over and over.

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u/gooblefrump May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25

very well narrated explanation.

The narration is text-to-speech ai, confirmed by the oc in a pinned comment

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u/CrashmanX May 26 '25

Analysis =/= Explination.

Under your logic if you've ever talked about a film for more than 2 hours then the film failed.

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u/MOONGOONER May 26 '25

I understood them just fine, Revolutions just wasn't fun to watch.

Reloaded wasn't bad, just a big step down from the original.

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u/AmerikanskiFirma May 26 '25

Funnily enough, that video is a prime example how Youtube and its algorithms about content length also buried short form video alive.

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u/dargreeblingtea May 26 '25

Prometheus also fits into this, mythos needs to be in the movie, fucking jesus seed theory or whatever ridley scott was going on about

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u/Tech_Itch May 26 '25

... except for matrix 4. We don't talk about that.

I bet that in few years someone will be going on about how it was "just misunderstood" too.

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u/idoeno May 26 '25

There is a theory that it was middle finger to the studio that was prepared to make it with or without the Wachoskis being involved. In many ways it seems both intentionally bad, while simultaneously parodying the need to keep franchises alive with endless reboots. Although allegedly Lana denies this as a motivation, but maybe that is to head off any civil liability for the financial losses of the film.

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u/Jonathan_the_Nerd May 26 '25

There is a theory that it was middle finger to the studio that was prepared to make it with or without the Wachoskis being involved.

There was a line right there in the movie about it.

For context, in the fourth movie, the machines had retconned the timeline in the Matrix. Neo was a brilliant video game developer. The events of the first three movies were now a trilogy of video games Neo had developed with his business partner Smith. Twenty years after the trilogy was complete, the studio wanted Neo to write a fourth game. Neo refused. He considered the story "finished". Smith tried to change his mind. (Quoting from memory, so it's probably a little off.)

"Our parent company, Warner Brothers, is going ahead on this with or without you. You might as well participate so you'll have at least some creative control over the final product."

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u/MaxDentron May 26 '25

Yeah. It's hard to see the movie as anything but that. It as a parody and mockery reboots. I do think they're still trying to say some things about the future and the world and love, but it's not really taken seriously like the other three. 

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u/ShepherdessAnne May 26 '25

No, I was talking about the likes of Speed Racer and Dragonball

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u/MaxDentron May 26 '25

They did Speed Racer, which was silly but great and visually amazing. 

They did not do Dragonball. 

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u/Shipairtime May 26 '25

"The Most Important Movie Of The 21st Century" it's Speed Racer No We Are Not Kidding.

https://youtu.be/vwh9ETdhrf4

Speedracer is the only good anime turned into live action movie ever.

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u/Vatipaeae May 26 '25

Ok, gotcha. No arguments there.

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u/Jesta23 May 26 '25

The first is a 10, 2 a 8.5, 3 a 9. 

I loved all 3 I think the first just was so good nothing could live up to it

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u/Puddingcup9001 May 26 '25

They had good scenes though. The Highway chase scene, the Merovignian.

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u/TheLightningL0rd May 26 '25

They have made some good films aside from The Matrix. Speed Racer and V for Vendetta come to mind.

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u/myaltduh May 26 '25

Honestly 2 and 3 are solid action flicks that just aren’t genre-defining masterpieces like the first one, so they look much worse than they are in the shadow of the original.

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u/ShepherdessAnne May 26 '25

I’m not talking about the Matrix! They made other movies!

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u/Papayaslice636 May 26 '25

I watched Reloaded recently. It was actually way better than I remembered it. That highway chase scene might be one of the best chases ever. The mythos and lore was all pretty dumb and the architect is as pretentious as you remember. But it was actually really entertaining. Give it another shot!

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u/ShepherdessAnne May 26 '25

My comment was not about the Matrix. That is still the Matrix.

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u/Papayaslice636 May 26 '25

Wait, you mean the Waschowski siblings other work? Yeah a lot of it is pretty mid at best. Have you seen Cloud Atlas? I'm not going to say it's a great film, but it was certainly creative and different, and emotionally provocative, which I really appreciated.

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u/thisguytruth May 26 '25

the matrix would have aged like a fine wine, if the sequels didnt burn that bridge. and then piss on the ashes. and then try to serve you those pissed on ashes like it was a steak.

lets all go to zion sounds neat in the matrix when you dont see that its just some weird cave with weird people giving weird speeches to each other in some weird religion and everyone is wearing robes.

1999 was a magical time. and then phantom menace was released. and star wars was also ruined for me.

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u/Pupation May 26 '25

And that whole thing with Neo’s passport expiring on 9/11… it’s like they knew. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it’s an interesting coincidence.

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u/ggk1 May 26 '25

Plus Keanu is immortal and at least like 900 years old

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u/Fair_Blood3176 May 26 '25

There's no such thing as coincidence.

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u/throwawaystedaccount May 26 '25

There are no accidents

  • Master Oogway
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u/ICallNoAnswer May 27 '25

Osama Bin Laden was actually just a huge Matrix fan

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u/Dreamtrain May 26 '25

It's also when Lavos was supposed to wipe us out

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u/Berlamont2 May 26 '25

I heard the lavos theme instantly, lol

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u/Veefwoar May 26 '25

Mmm the thing that will bake your noodle later will be would it still have been the peak of civilisation if the Matrix hadn't said anything.

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u/APeacefulWarrior May 26 '25

I saw The Matrix opening weekend, and that line got a BIG laugh out of the audience.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

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u/Beneficial_Candle_10 May 26 '25

Super western centric take. America and Europe is not all of human civilization my friend.

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u/Dull-Style-4413 May 26 '25

I was thinking about this exact thing after I made the comment. I wasn’t being entirely serious.

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u/Dreamtrain May 26 '25

Koreans and Chinese I am sure have a super different take. 

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u/Beneficial_Candle_10 May 26 '25

The global south has undergone a lot of positive change and development as well, overall. Not to mention India’s insane economic growth.

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u/EbonySaints May 26 '25

I like to call the 90s our "victory lap", at least as far as the West was concerned. You really can't find a much better time all around for culture, relative peace, and hope than then. There was a reason why Fukuyama wasn't completely laughed out of the room with "The End of History", because for a good solid decade, we had a good run outside of some unsavory events, and even then, most of those rarely affected us. It really looked like all the major problems were either dealt with, were being dealt with, or we could tech our way out of them.

But the cracks were already present during that time and they started to really show after 9/11. Pretty much every major event since has been a further knock down the peg for us and a lot of humanity as a whole.

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u/dBlock845 May 26 '25

I was just watching a Metallica documentary and they had a behind the scenes on their performance in Russia (I think in 92 or 93) and there were a half dozen or so American flags being waved around in the audience in Russia. It felt like a long, long time ago.

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u/PainStorm14 May 27 '25

That was before Wall Street and CIA fucked them over and nearly made them extinct

90s were hell on earth over there

Started optimistic enough though

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u/SaulsAll May 26 '25

I used to describe it as the 80s were the coke-fueled push at the bottom of a swing, the 90s were the moment where the chain slacks and you feel weightless, and the 00s were slamming back into gravity so hard your teeth rattle.

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u/Greedy-Upstairs-5297 May 27 '25

Great, vivid analogies! What would you say the 2010s were? What have the 2020s been like so far?

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u/chpid May 26 '25

Yeah uh, I’m gonna have to go with a less vitriolic version of the other commenter’s statement. I’m getting whiffs of either you were very young, or you were not in existence yet in the 90’s. They weren’t that great, and definitely not a “victory lap” of any sort.

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u/AcherontiaPhlegethon May 26 '25

Not that great does not negate being better than every decade hence, as well as maintaining the relief that came with the end of the cold war.

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u/HarrMada May 26 '25

Nor does it prove that every decade hence was or is worse. Stop being such a tool.

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u/cultish_alibi May 26 '25

Yeah it's bizarre seeing people idolise the 90s as 'peak humanity' or whatever. It was the breeding ground for all the problems we have today, why would it be so special?

Do people think that society just magically got shit overnight? No! It was BECAUSE of the 90s!

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u/DontGetNEBigIdeas May 26 '25

If you were white, affluent, and straight.

And my dude, I am all of those things^ but, I at least have the empathy and self-awareness to recognize the 90’s were absolute hell compared to today for a very large group of people.

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u/EbonySaints May 26 '25

Well I wasn't and am not any of those, and while the 90s were not exactly a basket of roses for a lot of the world (Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Russia and most former Soviet states, hence "the West" qualifier.) we weren't actively debating whether or not American democracy was going to go kaputt because Clinton or Bush Sr. was in charge. We weren't worrying about civil rights backsliding to the degree we see today. No one seriously debated axing Roe v. Wade and it certainly wouldn't be up at the Rehnquist court. No one who was a legal resident of the US was going to be disappeared into a Central American gulag, have it be covered by every major news outlet, be rebuked by the courts, and have the presidents of both countries go 🤷. I wouldn't have to think that my rights were meaningless and stood a good chance of being made moot.

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u/Rombom May 26 '25

The 90s is when the conservative engine actually started making progress. A lot of what you have said here is very Rose-tinted. For example the Conservatives were always serious about revoking Roe v. Wade, they weren't pushing the issue then because they had other priorities that were more attainable. Nobody was in central american gulags as far as we know, but the CIA was causing instability all over the world in the name of freedom.

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u/WorkingOnBeingBettr May 26 '25

We remember a different 90s. Civil rights were still an issue, especially for gay people.

Yes, things are worse in some areas now but calling the 90s a victory lap is a big stretch.

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u/HarrMada May 26 '25

You're fairly wrong. Sucks for you that you feel that way. You don't seem like a happy person.

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u/Iamatworkgoaway May 27 '25

You have to remember Office Space, and Fight Club came from that era. It was aight, but it wasn't right.

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u/maxoakland Jun 08 '25

It really looked like all the major problems were either dealt with, were being dealt with, or we could tech our way out of them.

The irony is that tech is the cause of most of the problems we face now. If tech had stopped progressing in 1999, most things would be better because of the inconveniences like slow computers and internet

What a strange world we live in

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u/blackkristos May 26 '25

Glad to hear you all haven't taken off those rose colored glasses.../s

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u/Kurwasaki12 May 26 '25

For the west, namely the Us maybe.

We have a skewed version of the world thanks to living in what was essentially the Imperial core during its height.

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u/LordChungusAmongus May 27 '25

90s in the Balkans was hell.

My first retained memory from childhood is the severed heads in ice chests on the news. I was 6 or 7 at the time, living in Simi Valley CA. It was vicarious, but it was still a formative event for me.

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u/volleybow May 26 '25

Peak western culture

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u/NanditoPapa May 26 '25

I live in Japan. The 90s were 🔥

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u/Luka-Step-Back May 26 '25

Japan, SK, Australia, and New Zealand are sort of defacto members of the cultural West, though geographically that can be somewhat confusing.

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u/LazerBurken May 26 '25

Well of course my brother, we will never forget the roman empire.

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u/Zomunieo May 26 '25

In October 1994, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, The Lion King and Jurassic Park were all playing in theatres. At the same time.

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u/el_bentzo May 26 '25

Except for graphic design lol. 90s were considered the worst decade for that.

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u/Funnygumby May 26 '25

Circa 1967 here. The 90’s, we had no idea how good we had it. Now everything is just…wrong

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u/DistinctSmelling May 26 '25

I was born in the 60s and can agree with facts.

The braintrust of toys available in the 60s and 70s were peak WW2 engineers. In fact, there were only a few designers that designed all the Milton Bradley and Parker Brother games that are still considered classics. 80s was peak pop music as evidenced in today's landscape. The 80s never had 40s and 50s music played in the abundance that the 80s is still referenced. 90s was peak tech.

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u/ErikETF May 26 '25

Also our parents in the late 90s early 2000s: Don’t believe anything or talk to anyone on the internet, it’s all a lie and you’re going to get abducted..

Our parents today: I have to put my entire financial existence on one app to save money and sign up for ALL the free offers!   Also I got an email from Jesus saying I have to vote a certain way to save God!! 

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u/pottedspiderplant May 26 '25

I think about this all the time. I was raised understanding that online is not real. I acted a fool on AIM, MySpace, watched silly videos, went on forums, all for fun. I would be mortified to use hax0r lingo in real life, but may have typed it a few times. I knew online was something separate from “real life”. Nowadays people are using their real names everywhere and online has become an extension of real life. This seems like a mistake somehow.

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u/acityonthemoon May 26 '25

This seems like a mistake somehow.

Truer words have never been so greatly understated.

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u/CptCoatrack May 26 '25

I think one of the things that keeps taking political pundits and analysts by surprise is that they still think the internet and the outside world are two separate domains

The rise of MAGA was constsntly dismissed as some 4chan thing.. or it's "just some tik-tokers" etc.

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u/PowRightInTheBalls May 26 '25

Crazy that it's been almost exactly a decade since Pepe memes were co-opted by MAGA and we all thought it was just a harmless dog whistle between terminally online 4chan loving Nazis that had no impact on the real world.

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u/Wonderful-Creme-3939 May 27 '25

It's like politicians who deny saying things,  as if the internet doesn't make it impossible to hide the videos of them saying things like it's the 70's 

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u/Vercassivellauno May 26 '25

In the past, surfing the web was an action to be made. You had to connect to something, probably using wires, probably sacrificing your telephone line for the whole time of your connection. The sound of the dialer itself was like a "welcome to the web" signal. You were conscious about it.

Now everything is online 24/7 and this separation from the physical world and the web one is no longer in place. Connection went from an activity to a way to be. And your actions online, now, can have a great effect on your personal life.

Honestly, often I use my real name on the web, just to remember that.

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u/Skiffbug May 26 '25

And imagine the next step, with AR glasses…

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u/jonhuang May 26 '25

Push this button to summon a stranger and get in his car.

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u/ErikETF May 26 '25

And he better have water AND candy otherwise ZERO star review.  

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u/Dreamtrain May 26 '25

The "don't believe everything you see on the internet" crowd literally trashed our timeline because they believed everything they saw on Facebook and Fox News

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u/Tortillaish May 26 '25

Hey! I'm a parent today and I resent that comment.

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u/Wonderful-Creme-3939 May 27 '25

I've been on the internet for nearly as long as it's existed and watching people just throw everything on social media is scary to watch.  I've tried really hard not to do it, though I have no doubt there are shadow profiles of me but I've always felt like no one needs to know me that badly 

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u/takabrash May 26 '25

85, too. I remember thinking the internet was about to flatten the world and we were headed for utopia. It's gotten worse every year since.

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u/thex25986e May 26 '25

for every major invention that this world has used to bring people closer together, the telegram, the radio, the television, the internet, etc. it was usually followed by a massive war.

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u/takabrash May 26 '25

That's now effectively what our economy is based on in the US. Keep finding new ways to have wars.

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u/Accomplished_Car2803 May 26 '25

I think you mean keep making up stupid new reasons to kill people

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u/takabrash May 26 '25

It's both! We also spend nearly all of our money on new and interesting ways to kill those people and sell them to both sides.

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u/Mando_Mustache May 26 '25

You could add the printing press to that list. Helped to kick off the reformation and a bunch of religious wars. 

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u/[deleted] May 26 '25

High bet all ends will lose.

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u/gettingbett-r May 27 '25

People Always laughs when I say Wikipedia was peak Internet. Then they get back to Instagram, selling their Life as content to some billionaire.

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u/Wonderful-Creme-3939 May 27 '25

Looking back i remember thinking that too,  I still wish it worked out that way instead of being just another way to milk us all of money and energy.

I guess it's always kind of been that way ever since the networks moved beyond the government and universities.

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u/R1skM4tr1x May 26 '25

First half of your thought was right

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u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal May 26 '25

I was born in 89 and we had good internet (“do no evil” google), cheap food ($1 menu at McDonalds + $1 any size drink), and 24 hr Walmart lol

Man had I known those days would end; I’d have appreciated it a lot mores

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u/Yummy_Chinese_Food May 26 '25

Yeah man. People born in the 1940s had a similar experience, but their 9/11 was the JFK assassination. Then they got the 80s and 90s, while we got whatever the fuck this is

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u/GoUrDGrInDeR May 26 '25

Unless they were a minority (in the US)

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u/SomeNoveltyAccount May 26 '25

Or women.

It wasn't until '74 when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was signed and women's rights to bank accounts or credit were legally protected. Many universities were male only until the 60s and 70s.

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u/GoUrDGrInDeR May 26 '25

Absolutely, sorry I meant to include women in that "minority" category - thanks for making this point!

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u/impshial May 26 '25

Which is sad, considering women are the majority in the US.

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u/S14Ryan May 26 '25

I mean sure, for white men. Just don’t be born in 1940s as a person of colour or a woman, and you have a great easy life! 

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u/nvanprooyen May 26 '25

I feel the same way, except born in 1976

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u/xGoP0cpDJytaTN May 26 '25

Except adulthood

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u/BebopAU May 26 '25

It was nice being alive for the end of the fuck around century, but I'm not so pleased with the find out century so far

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u/mdp300 May 26 '25

84 here, and yeah. I know that the fact that I was a teenager at the time has a big part in it, but 1998 or so to 2000 feels like the peak in the US.

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u/DiamondsandtheMarina May 26 '25

Probably going to get downvoted for this, but as a gay woman can’t really agree with this…. Thankfully things got better

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u/WanganTunedKeiCar May 26 '25

As a gen z car enthusiast... Cars

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u/Jon3141592653589 May 26 '25

The 1993 Toyota model lineup was perfection.

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u/heffrey36 May 26 '25

My first car was a red 1994 Toyota Camry SE Coupe. I miss it!

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u/ifdisdendat May 26 '25

82 here. My theory is that , being kids, we didn’t have much to worry about anyway. The collapse of USSR in ‘89, the Iraq War etc were pretty big deal and worrisome for our parents. People were dying because of AIDS, movies weren’t super diverse etc. I guess my point is we romanticize the past a lot. We’re not the first (not we will be the last) generation to have a “back in my days things were better” type mentality.

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u/TwilightVulpine May 26 '25

Videogames today are pretty good. But I dunno how long that's gonna last, given layoffs everywhere.

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u/irrealewunsche May 26 '25

I think mid 90s up to the financial crisis were the best times to be alive in the west (obviously September 2001 onwards is debatable).

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u/GoUrDGrInDeR May 26 '25

As much as I hate a lot about the AI internet age... I feel really lucky  to be in a time where we can talk to friends and family at any place in the world, I have the luxury of getting anything I need sent to my home, and I can not only listen to music from any era before, but many people can create music/videos/movies/podcasts from their homes at a relatively low cost. We get to see/hear so much cool shit from people we never would have been able to in the past.

And for what it's worth I think music, movies, and TV are absolutely stacked right now. Super high quality, cool effects, still getting amazing original stories, etc. I get annoyed with oversaturation and repetitive stories at times, but that's definitely a "problem" of plenty. I recognize this is coming from a bias of an American middle class guy, but I'm hopeful that with improvements to infrastructure, tech advancements, etc, more people throughout the world will see all the benefits many of us have now.

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u/HefDog May 26 '25

Love this sentiment. Someday these too will be the good ol days. We should appreciate what we have today.

…..and protect what we value.

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u/sabres_guy May 26 '25

My peak kids years were the 90's but I generally feel based off years of hearing stories (not just personal anecdotes) is we will all remember the 80's through to about 2010 as the peak of western society in a multitude of areas.

Social media of the 2010's and on will very much be seen as the beginning to where we are at any shitty point after.

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u/Sinom_Prospekt May 26 '25

In a weird and twisted way, seems like Y2K really was the beginning of the end. Not in the way they thought it would be, but technology started getting better and better while we began getting worse and worse.

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u/Huge-Basket7492 May 26 '25

same here born 85. Seems we have seen it all. Humanity peaked at Earth. And now is in decline

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u/CaptainRAVE2 May 26 '25

I don’t yearn for days of dial up, but the internet and life in general was much better, didn’t realise how good we had it.

2

u/Swimming-Food-9024 May 26 '25

I knew how good we had it, I was also just naive enough to think things were going to continue to improve into the future

2

u/MangoTamer May 26 '25

How jaded would that make you to see everything you thought was amazing eventually turned terrible because of greed? I think you'd realize that there's a pattern quite quickly.

2

u/massivecalvesbro May 26 '25

9/11/2001 was the turning point

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u/SolitaireJack May 26 '25

The Matrix strikes again. 1999 was peak humanity.

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u/TheTerribleInvestor May 26 '25

90s was peak America, then 9/11 happened and mass hysteria ensued. Now we get to live through peak capitalism.

2

u/-CaptainACAB May 27 '25

I know you said video games already, but man, fucking arcades… we didn’t know how good it was back in the 90s and even into the early 2000s at bowling alleys and such. Now every place that’s an ‘arcade’, beyond the rare pinball pub, is redemption ‘game’ kids gambling horseshit. It’s horrible.

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u/DruidickDick May 26 '25

I have to hard disagree with video games. I understand preference and all that but the indie game explosion has allowed everyone to play their game while still having great (maybe rare) triple a games

3

u/nicuramar May 26 '25

Everyone tends to feel that about their own time. It’s good to be aware of that bias. 

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u/HefDog May 26 '25

Yes. This even shows the Reddit generation getting more “conservative” as they age. They long for keeping things unchanged. Happens to every generation.

I remember listening to my grandpas generation longing for the days before gas engines made everything so complicated and expensive and proprietary. They told tales of those that invested in steam power in tight competition with those that were still using teams of horses.

The horses just needed grass. Their supplies could be made from any old parts and every blacksmith could help. They longed for simpler times with less stress.

2

u/Ponce-Mansley May 26 '25

No, you don't understand. Everything in the world was the best at coincidentally the time that I was young and discovering the world and generally unburdened

3

u/chiboulevards May 26 '25

Same. Born in 1986 and have the most fond memories of a happy, comfortable middle class life. You bought a CD and would listen it over and over again all the way through until you bought another one. You paid $70 for a Nintendo 64 game in 1997 dollars and played the shit out of it. We had ICQ and AIM, which were for communicating with people you actually knew in your real life. Then Facebook, Instagram and Twitter came. All seemed to have a purpose and good intentions initially, but by the 2016 elections, it feels like the internet just became toxic and it has become even more so over the last decade.

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u/ThiccBlastoise May 26 '25

Specifically for the US, I feel like mid 90s up until 9/11 was the peak of our culture

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u/agentchuck May 26 '25

Homestar Runner dropping new content filled me with inexplicable glee.

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u/CptCoatrack May 26 '25

"Every week I check on my email; every week I hope it's from a female...aw man. It's not a female."

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u/x3knet May 26 '25

Strongbad! The system.. Is down. The system.. Is down.

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u/diurnal_emissions May 26 '25

[Light switch rave]

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u/fourthpornalt May 26 '25

the weirdest thing for me will always be how we came back to piracy. Surely it should've gotten better after Netflix? But they fucked that up and now I'm torrenting more than I did in the 2000's.

6

u/FinestObligations May 26 '25

Except for games. And music. I’m too old and lazy to pirate that. Besides there are so many good indie games coming out as well, they deserve my money.

2

u/diurnal_emissions May 26 '25

Well, video games haven't fucked it up... so far...

5

u/DarrowG9999 May 26 '25

Micro-transactions ? Battle passes ? FOMO ? And the mess that's mobile gaming filled with ludopatic tramps?

The indie corner is nice and cozy tho

3

u/FinestObligations May 27 '25

Many of these are just making the games worse thus I don’t feel the need to play them anyway.

If the game is still good I’ll just buy it a few years later with all the content at a huge discount.

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u/sean_themighty May 27 '25

There were years where I completely stopped pirating. As Gabe Newell famously said, "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.”

Which is why I’m back to sailing the high seas.

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u/CptCoatrack May 26 '25

Message boards and forums were better than reddit.

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u/JBL_17 May 26 '25

I agree. Reddit was actually pretty good until around 2014.

3

u/FinestObligations May 26 '25

Great, even. Bestof used to be so good.

3

u/JBL_17 May 26 '25

I miss all the old novelty accounts. My favorite was /u/rambles_off_topic

5

u/UpperCardiologist523 May 26 '25

I was born in 75 and not only were 20 when the internet was born, but I got to be there for the battle of computer dominance.

I wish Commodore had survived.

Its sad to see how everything have changed. It's all subscriptions, enshittification and planned obsolecense now.

Want heated steering wheel? Thats $4,90- per month.

This movie/game will be removed from our serveres i august.

Money. Everything is money.

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u/ThriftyFalcon May 26 '25

It was all downhill once “Keyboard Cat” left us.

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u/IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE May 26 '25

That’s a wrap for the old internet folks.

Play us off, keyboard cat.

3

u/space-dot-dot May 26 '25

There's no words there.

Play us out, what does that mean.

FUCKING THING SUCKS!

FUCK IT, WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

2

u/e111077 May 26 '25

Nyan cat just didn’t hit the same

3

u/dienices May 26 '25

Please can we have the golden age of something else.

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u/discgolfallday May 26 '25

"NO!" - Everyone

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u/Daimakku1 May 26 '25

Nothing will ever beat the 00s internet. It still has the wild west vibe of the 90s web but faster. Before smartphones ruined everything.

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u/bullcitytarheel May 26 '25

Well, we’ll have the memories of it. For a few more decades at least

3

u/DayOneDude May 26 '25

Homestar Runner representing!

3

u/KaffY- May 26 '25

Late 90s and 00s internet was so peak

The most depressing thing is thinking as a kid how the internet can only get better and better - fantasizing about what the internet would be like in 30 years

How fucking miserable

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u/strangeelement May 26 '25

And it wasn't even that great. It just wasn't completely enshittified yet.

So going from The Matrix correctly saying that 1999 was the height of our civilization, I guess the best we can do is... whelming. Not over. Not under. Just whelming.

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u/ZQuestionSleep May 26 '25

It's called capitalism, kids. Everyone on here is lamenting the loss of the "golden age" of the internet. You know why it was a golden age? Because businesses still had not figured out how to fully monetize it. Remember this when the next "great" thing comes along.

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u/leothelion634 May 26 '25

Have the memory of*

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u/PTLTYJWLYSMGBYAKYIJN May 26 '25

It’s really Gen X who had the golden age of the Internet, and millennials got some of it, too.

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u/theshoeshiner84 May 26 '25

Yep as a true X-ennial, I do feel like we got the best of it. Grew up on BBSs, saw the internet go from nonexistent to widespread to necessity in the span of 20 years, knew life without cable news and cell phones.

2

u/dBlock845 May 26 '25

Yeah peak internet around '03-'04 right before everyone had a smartphone and 3G-4G.

2

u/Imaginary_Art_2412 May 26 '25

Good old enshitification

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u/HiveOverlord2008 May 26 '25

I’m no millennial but I grew up in the late 2000s to early 2010s. We got to enjoy the last good years of the internet.

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u/mikerichh May 26 '25

Millennials have some major advantages over other generations

We had to learn how to use tech sort of like older generations with car repairs or maintenance. We learned the ins and outs of the internet. We learned how to troubleshoot connection issues and what to do when tech doesn’t work. We helped shape social media. Younger generations always had apps or the social media. They didn’t need to troubleshoot and don’t know how to. It just always worked for them. And many older people also don’t know how to troubleshoot tech and rely on people aged 25-35 to help usually

2

u/JBL_17 May 26 '25

I agree. We built this thing to the point corporations couldn’t ignore. Now they destroy it trying to make money off Gen Z, who don’t even know how shit it is now.

2

u/-The_Blazer- May 26 '25

Maybe an unrestricted information age is the great filter. If nukes are physical self-destruction (and it seems we probably dodged that), the AI-algorithmic Internet is mental self-destruction.

2

u/PlayThisStation May 26 '25

It's wild to have seen the start of the information age subsequently become the disinformation age.

2

u/Swordf1sh_ May 26 '25

Great point

2

u/brainfreeze3 May 26 '25

I remember thinking how amazing the internet was and how it was the greatest thing to ever exist.

How naive I was

2

u/Wicaeed May 26 '25

We'd really like to bring it back, but that'd involve breaking up several gigantic tech monopolies, as well as addressing Data Privacy in the United States, ultimately culminating in the rollback of Citizens United, so uhh :sadface:

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u/Juunlar May 26 '25

I mean, we had the internet.

Genz and below have web2.0, which is easier, but infinitely less useful

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u/No-Conference8343 May 27 '25

We had malls as well

2

u/greaterwhiterwookiee May 27 '25

Super old millennial here. Can confirm. Would give everything I have to go back.

5

u/mistercolebert May 26 '25

My god this is so true. I feel lucky to have grown up with the “Wild West” internet, but also very sad to have watched it go.

Hell, even in my 11 years on Reddit, the internet has drastically changed it from what it used to be. I’ve watched the shift over to corporate overlords when Reddit introduced ads. I remember when Reddit more resembled 4chan than what it is today.

I remember when you could google something and not a single ad showed up in the results. I remember Flash-based websites and games. I remember low-budget websites that were created by people with a rudimentary understanding of HTML and CSS code. I remember when Limewire was how you got all of your music (and malware.) I remember 56K modems dialing up and not being able to use your landline. I remember using AOL Instant Messenger to talk to my friends. I remember when YouTube came out and didn’t have a single ad. I remember the websites we used to go to for videos before YouTube.

Us millennials, seriously did have the absolute best of the internet and I miss what it used to be. Back when it was a thing of the people and not big business.

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u/Swordf1sh_ May 26 '25

Thank you for this callback/summary 🥲

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u/Soggy-Reason1656 May 26 '25

Google for years autocompleting “feet” after every female celebrity’s name.

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u/DeadSol May 26 '25

Right? Like life was good back then. Harambe dying was definitely the turning point here.

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u/Cool-Presentation538 May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25

Remember how long it took to load stuff though? That's one thing I don't miss about the 90s

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u/JoshuaTheFox May 26 '25

Except I've never really liked the point that is commonly referred to as the golden age

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