My father saw the birth of the web, in his office. I remember how excited he was, and how I couldn’t understand his excitement.

When I talked to him about nostr, I could see some of the same excitement. To them back then it was mainly about sharing the science, the data, the ongoing conversation.

They can see they have failed.

Pre-prints (long form notes) used to be sent by mail to libraries (relays) so that each community of scientists could communicate with the others. These pre-print would be either celebrated, constructively criticized, or destroyed by your peers.