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The big companies don't want decentralization, so the trend has been away from decentralization towards centralization: * Usenet was a decentralized forum, lik

The big companies don't want decentralization, so the trend has been away from decentralization towards centralization: * Usenet was a decentralized forum, like a decentralized HN in a sense. The first attack on it were the small-time commercial spammers. Then the government, RIAA/MPAA and last mile net duopoly (AT&T/Verizon) conspired to more-or-less sink it, which they did ( https://www.verizon.com/Support/Residential/internet/highspeed/general+support/top+questions/questionsone/125159.htm https://www.verizon.com/Support/Residential/internet/highspe... http://www.tomsguide.com/us/AT-T-Usenet-Access-Closed,news-4055.html http://www.tomsguide.com/us/AT-T-Usenet-Access-Closed,news-4... http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Newzbin-Usenet-MPA-Copyright-Infringement,news-6844.html http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Newzbin-Usenet-MPA-Copyright-Inf... ) * Newer peer-to-peer file sharing apps never had a chance. Napster, Gnutella and so forth, under attack by the RIAA/MPAA and government. The trend is toward more centralization, not centralization. With a last-mile duopoly, antagonistic government and MPAA and RIAA beating war drums, decentralization has been under attack for years and the centralization forces have been winning. I see nothing in the visible horizon that sees things changing any time soon.

erikpukinskis 10y ago
> The trend is toward more centralization, not centralization. What are you basing that on? When I think about journalism, that seems a lot less centralized to me. Bitcoin is decentralized money. Recording companies are giving way to smaller more specialized independent production companies. I think software is in a weird recentralization due to this push towards services and away from products. But it's exactly the kind of technology cited above, and stuff like Ethereum, which will allow that trend to go back in line with the macro decentralization trend. Maybe you can help me see what you're seeing that I'm missing?
Nutomic 10y ago
Napster was centralized, that's why it was taken down. Now we have torrents. When a torrent site is taken down, 10 new ones replace it. I think with projects like Ethereum, IPFS and others, there will be a huge push for decentralization in the near future. Of course it will be limited to enthusiasts at first, but not forever.

erikpukinskis 10y ago

> The trend is toward more centralization, not centralization. What are you basing that on? When I think about journalism, that seems a lot less centralized to me. Bitcoin is decentralized money. Recording companies are giving way to smaller more specialized independent production companies. I think software is in a weird recentralization due to this push towards services and away from products. But it's exactly the kind of technology cited above, and stuff like Ethereum, which will allow that trend to go back in line with the macro decentralization trend. Maybe you can help me see what you're seeing that I'm missing?

Nutomic 10y ago

Napster was centralized, that's why it was taken down. Now we have torrents. When a torrent site is taken down, 10 new ones replace it. I think with projects like Ethereum, IPFS and others, there will be a huge push for decentralization in the near future. Of course it will be limited to enthusiasts at first, but not forever.