Local ISPs still need access to the physical lines. Comcast and friends have done everything they can to keep that from happening. The government SHOULD force open the lines (of all the internet related things that people want to be classified as utilities, the physical cabling actually should be). But it has to be the government. This isn't something that the average person has any direct control over.
Linux is increasingly subject to corporate control, especially by Red Hat. I mean, systemd wasn't adopted because it's just such a great piece of software.
Governments are on an increasing crackdown against cryptocurrency. Europe is trying to regulate it just like any other money. Not that many places accept Bitcoin, and Know Your Customer laws mean that if you want to convert back and forth between cash, you have to provide your real identity to exchanges. Besides, Bitcoin isn't anonymous. Monero is private (more or less), but even less merchants accept it, and you still have the cash conversion problem.
Some kinds of platforms only work at large scale (DNS, video hosting, serious DDOS protection). Some things I just don't see any way to decentralize.
Now having said all that, I'm not entirely pessimistic. I think we're going to start to see some pushback due to recent events on Reddit, of all places, with people starting to realize that a handful of sociopaths at the levers of power isn't how they want to live. But I think you're greatly underestimating some of the technical hurdles.
I'd like to think you're right re: the government, but a little birdie told me....
Corporate capture (the F word) is much more advanced than your scenario implies. The NGOs, e.g. the B&M Gates "Foundation," a host of hundreds of others, all too frequently operating on the premise of philanthro-capitalism. Then we take specific gummint agencies such as the FDA---75% funded by industry, rather how Gates took over the WHO. This (these) mofo(s) are insidious and they've already made their fortified bed in Congress---the M.I.C., and the White House, with its sub techno-race of Googleians roaming free. (S-Con Valley put K-Pop Hive in as VP.)
The last count I had several years, half a decade + ago had 12,500 lobbyists running around the Beltway. Oh. And the hyper-ubiquitous big money-sponsored 'think tanks.'
I'd love to be, would welcome indeed, being wrong in my sentiments. You'd make my day in changing my opinion.
I should clarify (and will) that the FDA's overall budget is 50% funded by Big Junkie-Makers; it is the testing of their.own.drugs. for which they chip in 75%. (Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy too!)
Yes you make some great points and I donтАЩt want to minimize the struggle against state regulations here. My main point was that many technologies themselves are highly conducive to decentralization. To get there you need people to want it; and you need to not go to prison for trying it. The cultural and political hurdles seem more serious than the technological hurdles - this is what I wanted to convey.
On the topic of the community ISPs, they often end up using wireless mesh networks, so the cabling access isnтАЩt always as big of an issue as it used to be.
IтАЩm always the engineer who takes the project that seems bound to fail and nobody else wants; IтАЩve literally made a living off of getting in over my head and then solving the problem anyways. IтАЩm not sure
I underestimate difficulty as much as I understate it generallyтАж but it is a thing IтАЩm prone to either way.
I would be interested in the real world performance of professionally managed wide-area mesh networks. My instinct is that they wouldn't have the stability or reliability to match a fixed line, especially in less densely populated areas. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that.
You're probably right that most of the technical issues are, in theory, solvable. Adoption is always the hard part, of course.
Local ISPs still need access to the physical lines. Comcast and friends have done everything they can to keep that from happening. The government SHOULD force open the lines (of all the internet related things that people want to be classified as utilities, the physical cabling actually should be). But it has to be the government. This isn't something that the average person has any direct control over.
Linux is increasingly subject to corporate control, especially by Red Hat. I mean, systemd wasn't adopted because it's just such a great piece of software.
Governments are on an increasing crackdown against cryptocurrency. Europe is trying to regulate it just like any other money. Not that many places accept Bitcoin, and Know Your Customer laws mean that if you want to convert back and forth between cash, you have to provide your real identity to exchanges. Besides, Bitcoin isn't anonymous. Monero is private (more or less), but even less merchants accept it, and you still have the cash conversion problem.
Some kinds of platforms only work at large scale (DNS, video hosting, serious DDOS protection). Some things I just don't see any way to decentralize.
Now having said all that, I'm not entirely pessimistic. I think we're going to start to see some pushback due to recent events on Reddit, of all places, with people starting to realize that a handful of sociopaths at the levers of power isn't how they want to live. But I think you're greatly underestimating some of the technical hurdles.
I'd like to think you're right re: the government, but a little birdie told me....
Corporate capture (the F word) is much more advanced than your scenario implies. The NGOs, e.g. the B&M Gates "Foundation," a host of hundreds of others, all too frequently operating on the premise of philanthro-capitalism. Then we take specific gummint agencies such as the FDA---75% funded by industry, rather how Gates took over the WHO. This (these) mofo(s) are insidious and they've already made their fortified bed in Congress---the M.I.C., and the White House, with its sub techno-race of Googleians roaming free. (S-Con Valley put K-Pop Hive in as VP.)
The last count I had several years, half a decade + ago had 12,500 lobbyists running around the Beltway. Oh. And the hyper-ubiquitous big money-sponsored 'think tanks.'
I'd love to be, would welcome indeed, being wrong in my sentiments. You'd make my day in changing my opinion.
I should clarify (and will) that the FDA's overall budget is 50% funded by Big Junkie-Makers; it is the testing of their.own.drugs. for which they chip in 75%. (Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy too!)
Bingo.
The US is done. I don't see a vector to recover the ground lost, and the current posture leads to decline.
Yes you make some great points and I donтАЩt want to minimize the struggle against state regulations here. My main point was that many technologies themselves are highly conducive to decentralization. To get there you need people to want it; and you need to not go to prison for trying it. The cultural and political hurdles seem more serious than the technological hurdles - this is what I wanted to convey.
On the topic of the community ISPs, they often end up using wireless mesh networks, so the cabling access isnтАЩt always as big of an issue as it used to be.
IтАЩm always the engineer who takes the project that seems bound to fail and nobody else wants; IтАЩve literally made a living off of getting in over my head and then solving the problem anyways. IтАЩm not sure
I underestimate difficulty as much as I understate it generallyтАж but it is a thing IтАЩm prone to either way.
State regulations are the only check that can succeed to protect the individual.
The issue, in the US particularly is deregulation and the moratorium on anti-trust law enforcement.
Congress is captive to industry.
That won't change in your lifetime, and the decline of the US will continue.
I would be interested in the real world performance of professionally managed wide-area mesh networks. My instinct is that they wouldn't have the stability or reliability to match a fixed line, especially in less densely populated areas. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that.
You're probably right that most of the technical issues are, in theory, solvable. Adoption is always the hard part, of course.