From the Internet.

There is a joke (or a "meme", for those who understand that term) that says, "Don't worry, I'm from the internet". This ran through my mind today, and in an instant I began to think about what that term means to me.

First of all, the saying is a tongue-in-cheek way for a person to say they know about many things. It's a way of saying that they have spent much time on the internet, and that they are superior because of it. While the superiority derived from spending time on the internet may be a fallacy, the fact is that people from the internet do know things, different things, compared to those who aren't.

I started to go over, in my head, what it means to be "from the internet". The following is a stream of consciousness, bearing comparisons to those who are inhabitants of a city, or country. Here goes.

My grandma is not from the internet. She has heard of it. She may have seen it from a distance, but she has never been there. She has no interest of going there. She is happy where she lives, and has no intentions of ever making the seemingly unnecessary trip.

My parents have been to the internet. They watched their whole lives as the internet was being built. They watched as other people started to congregate, building and building, developing this new community. My parents were some of the early visitors of the internet. They brought me there as a child, and allowed me to experience things with them, for the first time, together. They spent many days and nights there throughout their adult lives. They got to experience the thrill of the whole world finally having a place to go together, and meet for the first time. My parents still visit the internet, but not as often as most people by today's standards. My mother spends more time there than my father, mostly because of the arcade gambling and socializing. For the most part though, they don't go there very often. They still spend most of their lives in their home, with their TV, and each other.

I am from the internet. I wasn't born there, but I have been there since I was a young boy. My parents gave me my own personal chariot when I was only 13 years old. Like many people my age, I spent many of my maturing years there. I learned hard lessons about life, and love, and humanity there. Some of my first real, hard experiences with liars, and hate, and evil, and deception; they all happened there. My first girlfriend was from there. We met in a chat room about music. At that age, the internet was full of everything my young heart desired. I traded pornography with people I barely knew. I used malicious programs to harass people I didn't care for. I ran around the internet without a care in the world, and it felt entirely free. There were no viruses to be afraid of. Of course I had heard about them, but no one I knew had ever gotten one. For the most part, the internet was a fairly safe place that I knew like the back of my hand. That was then, and back then the internet was a pretty small place.

As the years went by, the internet grew to unprecedented proportions. People starting gathering in segregated communities. Many people were part of more than one community, and were allowed to come and go as they pleased. People started to make rules, and guidelines that everyone should follow, most of which fell on deaf ears. The majority of people enjoyed the "open range" feel of the internet, and wanted it to resemble the rest of the world as little as possible. Businesses began to move in, bringing lots of money and flashing lights. It was right about the time when the internet started to see it's first few self-made rich entrepreneurs that the entire society began to change.

The wealth attracted the worst parts of humanity to the communities. People started to cheat and steal from one another. Even the businesses became questionably honest or legit. It seemed everywhere you looked, there was someone standing around looking to make money. Your money. Some sanctions were put in place, rules were passed to stop the crime, and even some companies came in to give people a place to sell and trade items where it could be monitored and governed by law. The internet was starting to show signs of structure that it had never seen before. It was putting on a new face, one that the entire world could enjoy, without fear.

The following years have been a blur of technological advances, gobs and gobs of money flowing in and out, and some of the most entertaining parts of humanity the world has ever seen. It is now the first place I go when I need something. It's where I go for my music. It is where I can go to get food, in one way or another. It is where I go to see my friends and family. It is where I go to have discussions, both intellectual or satirical. It is where I get my news, my bank statements, my shopping, my knowledge, my questions, my answers. It is the only place on earth that I know I will find what I am looking for.

The internet does have it's dark sides, however. Many in the internet never gave up on the "open range" ideology. Fewer still, some people actively try to make the internet unsafe in an effort to acquire the fortunes of others. The dangers of the internet have been well tucked away by much of the build-ups of the recent years. However, it doesn't take too much to find yourself following the wrong path, leading you to a part of the internet that you have no business being in. These areas can be filled with traps, and weapons; people with the worst intent imaginable. The communities have been convinced that they need protection to walk the streets these days, but the fact is that if you are clueless enough to end up in the wrong area, you don't have much hope either way. The internet's dark sides are filled with many impostors. Often times, many of the people you find in these parts are nothing but punk kids trying to act scary or intimidating in an effort to attract the attention of others. It's as elementary as any part of nature, people want attention from their peers, and those acting out, or showing off will garnish just enough attention to feel accomplished in life. Money, fame, sex... these are all tools used in vain, especially when used here. For, less you risk associating yourself with your likely internet persona of deception and debauchery, all accolades on the internet shall be achieved anonymously.

The internet has reached astounding levels to date. The magnitude of the internet is likely to be comparative to outer space soon, in regards to it's encompassing size. Single communities have grown and taken on their own identities, as if to become an internet themselves. People travel in and out of there so often, so quickly, it's amazing they even speak to one another anymore. Even the people who are not active memebers of the internet society are still integrated into it's functionality. It's almost impossible to find parts of this world that have not been changed, or continue to be changed, by the internet every day. Many of this world's inhabitants are interconnected to eachother, 24 hours a day, through the internet. We bring it with us everywhere we go. We share the most explicit detail of our lives, from the secret to the mundane, whenever possible, with it's entire population.

I still live here, on the internet. Of course, I spend days away from time to time. I spend more time here than my wife does, but that's because I was raised here, and she wasn't. I'm happy to have grown up here, and I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything in the world.

However, there is still one thing that I worry about...

The kids. The kids were born here. Anyone under 20 years old has spent their entire lives knowing what the internet was, and they've been here ever since. They never experienced the rest of the world first. They never saw how important this was for all of us. They take it for granted every day, and have no clue how it ever came to be. I fear that they won't know how to take care of it. They won't know about upkeep, and renovations, and preservation. It's becoming the only way these children know to communicate with the rest of the world. I'm affraid they won't understand the difference between a utopian lifestyle and pure anarchy. It scares me that someday these people, these children, that grew up here, are going to be the only ones left.

"It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."

-Danny