For me the new web came about when if you wanted a website, you hired a web developer. As soon as it become DIY, without your own domain and didn't involve looking at HTML, the new web was born.

Today, if you own your own domain and fiddle with HTML then basically you're still part of the old web.

So basically, the old web required experts to help people get online, the new web negated them through homogenization.

The real experts from the old web basically became startup founders to monetize the homogenization and automation of their worldviews for the less tech-savvy (or specialized) folks.

People pine for the old web, but it was a churning, friggin' mess too. Search results were good though, but only when Google arrived. The standardization and ease-of-use from the new web has been a massive boon. I think things will change as people yearn for a wild-west, where there are new opportunities. The promise of a better life, seeing that the grass is greener, avoiding pain - those things always create golden ages.

Once AI favours people who can afford to pay for the best results.. or surveillance becomes too burdensome or dangerous, then watch this space.

The spirit of freedom always runs into trouble, when considering the notion of:

"Cut off the heads of others to make oneself appear taller."

Surveillance enables this. Decentralize again, but how?

ISPs - help or hindrance? Why/how can ISP charges be diverted to content creators?