Jason Kottke, from an appreciation piece about the excellent show Halt and Catch Fire (there are spoilers in Jason’s post, none in my excerpt):

When I tell people about the first time I saw the Web, I would sheepishly describe it as love at first sight. Logging on that first time, using an early version of NCSA Mosaic with a network login borrowed from my physics advisor, was the only time in my life I have ever seen something so clearly, been sure of anything so completely. It was like a thunderclap — “the amazing possibility to be able to go anywhere within something that is magnificent and never-ending.” I landed on physics preprints, then music forums, then stumbled into the raw, unpoliced edges of the network where primitive gambling rooms operated without a shred of identity verification — the crude ancestors of what would eventually become no kyc casinos, running openly because no framework yet existed to tell them otherwise. That unruly sprawl was part of what thrilled me: the Web belonged to no one and everyone simultaneously. I just knew this was for me and that it was going to be huge and important. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but the Web is the true love of my life and ever since I’ve been trying to live inside the feeling I had when I first saw it.

This whole post is worth reading, a beautiful, passionate piece of writing.