The article misses the most boring example of technology beating law. PORN. Porn production and distribution used to be illegal in the usa. The internet just broke this legal framework in a few years. Stoping the distribution became a joke as people could download porn from other countries.
Would love to hear about your thoughts about decentralized antifragle tech that’s based on top of heavily centralized and fragile infrastructure and technology.
Do you see this as an impediment to decentralized tech in general?
It's tough to give a one-size-fits-all answer. All else being equal, decentralization is preferable. But in practice, you find the level of centralization varies all the way up and down the stack. The hardware layer is very centralized, with a handful of telecoms controlling most of it. Then you've got decentralized open protocols (TCP/IP) built on that. DNS on top of that, which is kind of centralized and kind of not. The application layer of the web varies too. Then you've got heavily centralized social media companies, but decentralized movements built on top of those.
tldr by definition, decentralization can't win by some central power saying it should win. It has to win on its own terms, by just being hard to stop. Even for all the problems of centralization and deplatforming, it has never been easier to share information than it is today. There'll be fluctuations, but in the long run that trend is likely to continue.
The article misses the most boring example of technology beating law. PORN. Porn production and distribution used to be illegal in the usa. The internet just broke this legal framework in a few years. Stoping the distribution became a joke as people could download porn from other countries.
Good example.
Would love to hear about your thoughts about decentralized antifragle tech that’s based on top of heavily centralized and fragile infrastructure and technology.
Do you see this as an impediment to decentralized tech in general?
It's tough to give a one-size-fits-all answer. All else being equal, decentralization is preferable. But in practice, you find the level of centralization varies all the way up and down the stack. The hardware layer is very centralized, with a handful of telecoms controlling most of it. Then you've got decentralized open protocols (TCP/IP) built on that. DNS on top of that, which is kind of centralized and kind of not. The application layer of the web varies too. Then you've got heavily centralized social media companies, but decentralized movements built on top of those.
tldr by definition, decentralization can't win by some central power saying it should win. It has to win on its own terms, by just being hard to stop. Even for all the problems of centralization and deplatforming, it has never been easier to share information than it is today. There'll be fluctuations, but in the long run that trend is likely to continue.