Can there possibly be anything more annoying than the term Web 2.0? If it was just Web 2 that would be bad enough but it’s that ‘.0’, as if there’s a team of programmers currently working towards the release of Web 2.1, that makes me want to nuke silicon valley. How is it possible to be such a wanker that you think this is a cool name?
There is no such thing as Web 2.0. You don’t type www2.0.whatever.com in your browser. There is only the World Wide Web, a thing that has been constantly evolving with new technologies since its inception. They didn’t talk of Road 2.0 when they invented the automobile, or Ship 2.0 when they ditched sails for steam power. Or maybe some did and rightfully were permanently silenced, which is why we’ve never heard of it. If so we’re definitely sliding towards a new dark ages allowing their modern counterparts to go unpunished.
Nobody really knows what Web 2.0 is meant to refer to exactly, but it’s apparently something to do with interactivity and user generated content; You Tube and My Space being prominent examples. The fact that ebay and countless chat forums had been around long before anyone coined the phrase Web 2.0 seems to have escaped those who seem to think we’re undergoing some spectacular collective leap in human consciousness. Basically Web 2.0 means your web page content is at the mercy of anyone with a pc and internet access who isn’t capable of making their own website, and no matter how bad you think that sounds in theory the reality is infinitely worse. Think of all the things you love about your favourite movies, (probably themselves Hollywood dross); story, cinematography, acting, soundtrack, special effects, character development etc., then imagine a five minute film with none of these qualities whatsoever. Imagine a hundred such films being posted to the internet every second of every day and you have the bottomless pit of banality that is YouTube.
On the bright side, at least the infrastructure of the internet means this stuff isn’t for the most part being broadcast throughout the galaxy. Any alien civilisation that received it would be practically compelled to exterminate the human race.
Now check out this amazing optical illusion. If you put your face right up to the screen you’ll swear it’s spinning.
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