Kottke pushes back, as Andre Torrez did about Janice's whole-new-Internet piece.
A couple thoughts:
The feeling that it's a more exciting time right now is clearly subjective -- and personal. For me, it rings true because I'm embarking on a new things, after working on the same thing for a lot of years. Not that when we first got to Google it wasn't terribly exciting. But at that time, I didn't see as many other people that were doing stuff they were excited about (outside Google). While there were cool things being built -- that shouldn't be short-shrifted -- building something cool on the side is not as exciting as getting your startup funded, for example (for most people). It may not ring true for someone for whom nothing has changed recently (especially if they're not in, say, the Bay Area and talking to a lot of people working on startups).
So yes, money is part of it. That has good and bad consequences. One consequence is that it allows a more energy to be put into new things.
Jason's premise seems to be that if one was creating something cool on the side because they were bored with their day job, that's better than if they get sucked into a company: "There will be less innovation and activity from individuals because they'll be snapped up by companies to work on their projects for their customers."
But in other cases, aren't they snapped up by companies -- or funded -- so they can work on the cool stuff full time? That may result in less blogging about it, because it's no longer just a hobby (or it may result in more because they have more time). But the net energy being put into new and interesting stuff will be increased because there is money to fund it that wasn't there before (especially if, presumably, it's smarter money that is funding smarter things than in years past).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not pro-bubble. It's much easier to build a sustainable business (if harder to get funded) when rationale is still in check. But a general optimism is not a bad thing.