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> If it wasn't 'net positive' not only would we not be having this conversation over the 'internet' - we'd still be in the dark ages. The internet was develop
by acomar 8y ago
> If it wasn't 'net positive' not only would we not be having this conversation over the 'internet' - we'd still be in the dark ages.
The internet was developed by Darpa so I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here. Competition did not produce the internet, and the telecommunications industry, which came about after as a commercialization project, has serious issues which make this an even harder argument to make.
- sonnyblarney 8y agoCompetition definitely created the telecommunications industry and by the way most of the electric grid as well. 'The internet' as we know it was not created by DARPA. DARPA created some protocols - of which there were many, private and public. It just so happens that a certain version of it got a critical mass - it didn't have to be that way. And a lot of private interests were involved, particularly private universities. The network over which the internet was overlaid is entirely commercial - and of course most of the variation of it has been commercial, or non-governmental type NGOs, i.e consortiums. Nobody is going to argue that some projects, particularly long-term/pure R&D, or projects that literally require a scale that's out of reach of even the largest private entities, are not going to require some kind of collective participation. But the argument that competition is kafkaesque or inherently problematic because of entities competing for the same turf is short sighted.