I have spent the last decade and more fascinated by the opportunity for social technologies to bring local communities together rather than pull them apart, to expand democracy rather than restrict it. In the early days of the internet this seemed inevitable, but it's been a long time since such lofty ideas were replaced by the web as a machine of money and power. 

So far it hasn't felt that 2025 will change anything. Tech bros are not covering themselves in democratic glory. But maybe, in the weeds of the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, there is a glimmer of hope coming from an unlikely place.