Here was someone who could manipulate themagicbox, who could speak fluent machine. In
that jewel of ’82, the original Tron, one sentient
bit of software says to another: “That’s Tron.
He fights for the users.” The users, we humans,
were the almighty creator-gods of the dawning
digital age, and the computers did our bidding.
We were in charge.
In today’s world, subject and object haveswitched places. The sites, the apps, the ubiq-
uitous platforms: Computers run the show now,
and we—mere data subjects, in the EU’s unflat-
tering phrase—work for and worship them.
Software creates us, our ontic exhaust power-
ing the megacorporate machinery. Perhaps the
inevitability of the reversal was always there,
coded in the words. The end user, in the end,
had been used.
But a new user rises by another name, seek-ing to take back control. Neither tech wiz nor
entrepreneur, their medium is nonetheless
digital, and they grok better than anyone its
power and reach. Connectivity doesn’t over-
whelm them; it inspires their labor and acti-
vates their mission. They are the creators of the
new culture—the participants, the coauthors,
the influencers, the storytellers. They are, quite
simply, the fans. As the four stories in the fol-
lowing pages show, they’re remaking the world
in their image.
—THE EDITORS