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Every time I see someone claiming that no one thought the internet would succeed by pointing out that newsweek article I wonder if they are even old enough to r
by sanswork 10y ago
Every time I see someone claiming that no one thought the internet would succeed by pointing out that newsweek article I wonder if they are even old enough to remember the mid 90s. I get that it would be regional but in the Toronto area in the mid-90s everyone I knew wanted to try the web and email it was often just expensive or a pain in the ass to do so.
Having scanned through the article they basically point out why their premise is wrong. "lawyers argue that regulation through code alone is inflexible and doesn’t permit any role for useful discretion".
>In the case of cryptocurrencies, we’re seeing far more aggressive investments of venture capital than we did for the internet during similar early stages of development.
Also this is provably wrong. Blockchain VC sits at around 2b over the course of 8 years and it has basically all but dried up. Internet companies had passed that by 96 after 2 years. 8 years after the start of the commercial internet was 2002.
- asciimo 10y agoI agree that there are plenty of differences between the technologies. But the investment comparison in the article seems accurate; a public Internet can be traced back before the 80s, and "early development" to the 60s. A public blockchain opened in 2009. Wasn't VC investment in the former comparatively late?
- sanswork 10y agoThere were BBSs earlier and if you were lucky you worked for a company or university with access but commercial internet access and usage was restricted before the early 90s. So comparing VC to before that point isn't accurate it also doesn't take into account how the internet itself has accelerated the distribution of ideas and tech dramatically.