You have to remember that when he said this, it was still an unusual thing to see a computer in the home, the internet was not a household word, the web lived on a single server in Switzerland, hard disks were finally beginning to become standard equipment on PCs, and mobile phones only made calls…barely.
You say, “Why should I learn these difficult technical skills when it’s all just gonna change? Let me know when it’s settled down.” Problem is, by the time you catch on that it’s *never* gonna settle down, you’re five years behind, with no real way to catch up, and you feel like a one-person Soviet Union.
— Stewart Brand on The WELL, circa 1991