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It's really surprising to see that even here people can't see where this is heading. I thought it was in a hacker's most basic instinct to be able to see how ti

It's really surprising to see that even here people can't see where this is heading. I thought it was in a hacker's most basic instinct to be able to see how tiny little, almost insignificant, steps can lead to something big. But fine, maybe you haven't been paying attention to the other parts of this. For a start, have you talked to people outside of your bubble? Do you know what "web browser" means to most people out there? It means Google. Honestly, go out and ask people. The Internet is not such a big place any more. It is very centralised. You might think that if the worst happens you can just host videos yourself but I think you would be mistaken. To do that you need to use one of a small handful of CDNs. Good luck trying to host your own server now. It's been the case for a while that most people have had asymmetric lines, ie. a poor upload speed, so we ended up going the centralisation route. Add to that the loss of net neutrality and the prevalence of "devices" as opposed to general purpose computers and I would ask you: do you still fail to see how the slope is true?

lovemenot 9y ago
I believe many people reading this thread would have already seen first-hand the capability of new technologies to disrupt existing power structures and they'd have no problem extrapolating to present-future scenarios. As powerful as the four-horsemen might now have become, they'll surely become past-their-prime IBMs or Microsofts in subsequent generations. In this context, a responsibility of technologists is to provide another round of disruption - sooner than the last - in order to prevent incumbents from getting too entrenched.
kadenshep 9y ago
>It's really surprising to see that even here people can't see where this is heading. I thought it was in a hacker's most basic instinct to be able to see how tiny little, almost insignificant, steps can lead to something big. We do. We exist in objective reality. The reality is you're engaging in a narrative that has direct, practical negations in the real world. In front of your face. They've existed for decades. Half the people who claim to be "hackers" on here couldn't exploit a wet paper bag. They're just american centrists, full of "acksually"-ism's who happen to write code. I mean the fact that PG's writing is considered interesting or note-worthy should be your first sign that this community isn't terribly academic in any field, really. >do you still fail to see how the slope is true? Yeah. I guess I missed the part where you kind of just lightly touched on different characteristics of the current technological landscape and then just jumped right back into your conclusion.

lovemenot 9y ago

I believe many people reading this thread would have already seen first-hand the capability of new technologies to disrupt existing power structures and they'd have no problem extrapolating to present-future scenarios. As powerful as the four-horsemen might now have become, they'll surely become past-their-prime IBMs or Microsofts in subsequent generations. In this context, a responsibility of technologists is to provide another round of disruption - sooner than the last - in order to prevent incumbents from getting too entrenched.

kadenshep 9y ago

>It's really surprising to see that even here people can't see where this is heading. I thought it was in a hacker's most basic instinct to be able to see how tiny little, almost insignificant, steps can lead to something big. We do. We exist in objective reality. The reality is you're engaging in a narrative that has direct, practical negations in the real world. In front of your face. They've existed for decades. Half the people who claim to be "hackers" on here couldn't exploit a wet paper bag. They're just american centrists, full of "acksually"-ism's who happen to write code. I mean the fact that PG's writing is considered interesting or note-worthy should be your first sign that this community isn't terribly academic in any field, really. >do you still fail to see how the slope is true? Yeah. I guess I missed the part where you kind of just lightly touched on different characteristics of the current technological landscape and then just jumped right back into your conclusion.