“Why Do I Need the Internet?” — 1990

The Question Nobody Could Answer

1990.

Someone asks: “Why would I need the internet?”

You try to explain:

“Well, you’ll be able to order pizza by pressing a button.”

“I can call the pizza place. Why would I need a computer for that?”

“You’ll be able to read news from anywhere in the world, instantly.”

“I have a newspaper. It works fine.”

“You’ll work from home. Your office will be wherever you are.”

“That’s ridiculous. Work happens at work.”

“You’ll carry a device in your pocket that connects you to all human knowledge.”

“Now you’re just making things up.”

“You’ll meet your spouse through the internet.”

“That’s creepy and weird.”

“You’ll watch movies whenever you want, whatever you want.”

“That’s what Blockbuster is for.”

“Entire industries will exist that don’t exist today. Millions of jobs doing things we can’t even name yet.”

“Okay, you’ve lost me.”

They Weren’t Wrong to Be Skeptical

In 1990, the internet was:

• Slow
• Ugly
• Complicated
• Used by academics and military
• Required technical knowledge
• Solved no obvious problems for normal people

“Why do I need this?” was a completely reasonable question.

The honest answer was: “I don’t know exactly. But this changes everything.”

And it did.

We’re at That Moment Again

2024.

Someone asks: “Why would I need a digital identity?”

You try to explain:

“You won’t have accounts anymore. You’ll just show up and systems will know you.”

“I have a password manager. It works fine.”

“Your reputation will follow you everywhere. Build it once, use it anywhere.”

“LinkedIn exists. What’s the problem?”

“AI agents will act on your behalf — legally, verifiably, revocably.”

“That sounds dangerous, not useful.”

“You’ll own your own data. Companies will pay you for access to it.”

“That’s not how the economy works.”

“You’ll be an internet entity. People will follow you, not your platform accounts.”

“I have followers on Instagram. Same thing.”

“Entire marketplaces will exist that can’t exist today. Economic relationships we can’t even imagine yet.”

“Okay, you’ve lost me.”

The Things That Sound Crazy Now

Let me try anyway. Here’s what becomes possible:

Instant, Universal Trust

You meet someone new. Within seconds, you can verify:

• They are who they claim to be
• Their credentials are real
• Their reputation in relevant contexts
• Their authority to act on behalf of others

No background check company. No waiting period. No “trust but verify later.” Just… verified.

1990 equivalent: “You’ll be able to see reviews from thousands of strangers before buying anything.”

AI That Legally Acts

Your AI agent:

• Books your travel (signs agreements on your behalf)
• Negotiates your contracts (within parameters you set)
• Manages your subscriptions (cancels, renews, disputes)
• Handles your bureaucracy (forms, applications, renewals)

Not “suggests actions.” Actually does them. With legal standing. Revocable instantly.

1990 equivalent: “A computer will manage your entire social calendar and send messages for you.”

Work Without Borders

Your credentials work everywhere:

• Licensed in one place, verified anywhere
• Reputation from any marketplace, portable to all
• Work history that travels with you
• No “starting over” when you move

1990 equivalent: “You’ll collaborate in real-time with people you’ve never met, across the world, for companies that don’t have offices.”

Personal Economic Sovereignty

You are a economic entity:

• Issue your own credentials
• Accept payments directly
• Build verifiable reputation
• Contract with anyone, anywhere
• Without platforms taking a cut

1990 equivalent: “Anyone will be able to broadcast to the entire world, build an audience of millions, and make a living from it.”

Community Without Geography

Participate in communities based on values, not location:

• Mutual aid networks across cities
• Professional guilds across borders
• Interest groups with verifiable membership
• Governance without governments

1990 equivalent: “You’ll have closer relationships with people you’ve never met in person than with your physical neighbors.”

Accountability Without Surveillance

Prove things without exposing everything:

• Prove you’re over 21 without showing ID
• Prove you’re qualified without revealing your history
• Prove you’re trustworthy without surveillance
• Prove you did what you said without being watched

1990 equivalent: “You’ll share intimate details with millions of strangers voluntarily, while demanding privacy from corporations.”

Death of Bureaucracy

Forms, applications, verifications — automated:

• Apply for a mortgage (credentials pre-verified)
• Start a business (identity established)
• Cross a border (status confirmed)
• Access a service (eligibility proven)

Instant. Frictionless. No clerk. No waiting.

1990 equivalent: “You’ll file your taxes in minutes, from your phone, while sitting on your couch.”

The Stuff We Can’t Imagine

Here’s the thing about 1990: the most important uses of the internet weren’t on anyone’s list.

Nobody predicted:

• Social media
• The gig economy
• Streaming entertainment
• Influencers as a career
• Remote work as normal
• E-commerce as dominant
• Smartphones as primary computers
• Algorithmic content curation
• Memes as communication
• Wikipedia
• The entire creator economy

The internet didn’t just do the things we imagined better. It made entirely new things possible that we couldn’t have imagined.

Digital identity will be the same.

The examples I gave above? Those are the “order pizza with a button” predictions. Obvious in retrospect. Useful but limited.

The real transformation will be things we can’t name yet:

• Economic structures that don’t exist
• Social organizations that aren’t possible today
• Forms of collaboration we haven’t invented
• Trust relationships we can’t currently conceive
• Value exchange we don’t have words for

Why It’s Hard to See

The Infrastructure Is Invisible

The internet’s power wasn’t the wires. It was what the wires enabled.

Digital identity’s power isn’t the cryptography. It’s what verifiable, portable, self-sovereign identity enables.

You don’t want “a digital identity.” You want what it makes possible. Just like you didn’t want “the internet” — you wanted to order pizza, connect with friends, work from anywhere.

The Problems It Solves Don’t Exist Yet

In 1990, nobody was frustrated by the lack of social media. The concept didn’t exist, so neither did the frustration.

Today, nobody is frustrated by the lack of portable reputation systems. The concept barely exists, so neither does the frustration.

But once it exists? Once you can carry your reputation anywhere? The old way will seem as primitive as calling the pizza place.

Network Effects Haven’t Kicked In

The internet was useless when few people had it. Why email someone who doesn’t have email?

Digital identity is the same. Why have a portable reputation if no marketplace accepts it?

But network effects compound. Critical mass arrives suddenly. And then the transformation is rapid.

The Honest Answer

“Why would I need a digital identity?”

The honest answer is the same as 1990:

“I don’t know exactly. But this changes everything.”

The infrastructure is being built. The patterns are emerging. The early uses are appearing.

But the real transformation? The things that will make this as fundamental as the internet?

Those we’ll only recognize in hindsight.

What We Do Know

Some things we can say with confidence:

Identity is infrastructure.

Just like connectivity was infrastructure. Whoever controls identity infrastructure has enormous power. We can choose to let that be governments and corporations, or we can build something more distributed.

The status quo is unstable.

Passwords are broken. Data breaches are constant. Platform power is concerning. Trust is eroding. Something will change. The question is what.

The possibility space is vast.

When you can verify anything about anyone, instantly, with their consent — what becomes possible?

We’re about to find out.

The 1990 Test

When someone asks “why would I need a digital identity?” — try the 1990 test.

Imagine explaining the internet to someone in 1990. How would they react to:

• Online dating
• Working remotely forever
• Watching any movie instantly
• Carrying all music ever recorded in your pocket
• Getting directions that update in real-time
• Video calling anyone in the world for free

They’d think you were crazy. Or lying. Or both.

Now imagine explaining what digital identity enables to someone today. Their reaction is the same.

That’s how you know it’s real.

We’re at the 1990 moment. The things that sound crazy now will be obvious in hindsight. The things we can’t imagine will be the most important.

TODO: Add timeline predictions, early use cases, and historical parallels