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From article: "This was great. In fact, the invention of the cookie was the single most important thing we have ever added to the internet. It changed the internet from just a passive place for us to read things, to an interactive place."

There was several interactive protocols, like telnet or IRC. Maybe that cookie implementation is one reason, why people confuse web with Internet?

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I stopped reading the post at that point.

To most people, the distinction is an inconsequential technical detail and so they conflate the two, but if someone is teaching the specification history of an implementation detail, they really ought to know the fundamentals.

Did IRC or telnet became the backbone for the entire online economy like the www with cookies became?

They were influencial back in time. In alternative reality, where web stayed in original form, we probably have some other and more designed to specific problem solution.

IRC was a major part of the online society we used to have, which I found more valuable at the time than the online economy we have today.

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