Does The Web Make People Hateful?

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has expressed his sadness at the way the internet is exploited as a platform for trolling and argument, adding that his invention magnifies both the best and the worst traits of human nature.

Speaking during the opening of the London Science Museum, Berners-Lee said: “Everywhere I look I see a mass of energy, a huge amount of energy, and also in some places, they are using the web for organised protests against oppressive regimes, it appears that it is not the private medium we once thought.”

“I had hoped that the web would provide tools and for a to break national barriers and provoke a better global understanding but it’s staggering to me that people who must have been brought up like anybody else will suddenly become very polarised in their opinions and will suddenly become very hateful instead of very loving....I think it is human nature, we have always had a wonderful side - and a dark side - and the web is fairly accessible to those who wish exploit it."

"Maybe it’ll happen in the future, maybe we will be able to build web-based tools that help us keep people on the path of collaborating rather than fighting.”, Berners-Lee concluded.