'Modern cultures must promote courage, curiosity and compassion,' says hashtag pioneer

"There's been a considerable amount of graft and corruption in Greece, which is incredibly challenging to root out once it infects the culture. The best shot you have is to gradually replace that culture with a new culture that values different things that are aligned with the long-term welfare of groups of participants and creators, and that rewards those who value contribution over self-aggrandizement."

Speaking to Kathimerini, Chris Messina, the open web and software evangelist who created the hashtag, does not hide his concerns about the risk of a future in which the synthetic blurs with the real in a way that is undistinguishable, or worse, that people stop caring about the delineation whatsoever.

Almost 11 years ago, in August 2007, you tweeted the first hashtag. Today # is a world trend, reaching far beyond social media. What is the story of # and what is...