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Yup. A bit less catchy than “Don’t be evil” but it’s the same. Cloudflare is what Google was 20 years ago. The cycle can only break by decentralized protocols

Yup. A bit less catchy than “Don’t be evil” but it’s the same. Cloudflare is what Google was 20 years ago. The cycle can only break by decentralized protocols.

joshmanders 4y ago
> The cycle can only break by decentralized protocols. I disagree. The cycle can break by breaking up the monopolies so that one company doesn't control everything, and allow free market to expand. Competition keeps people from being evil. Evil only happens when there's no reason for them to NOT do evil things. Google was fine until they became the top dog and nobody could even compete.
- dizzant 4y ago
  > Competition keeps people from being evil. Evil only happens when there's no reason for them to NOT do evil things. I don’t agree. People generally don’t steal, but if they have no food, they will resort to theft to survive. Competition can prevent some ill effects of monopolistic tyranny, which I think is what you’re getting at here, but it breeds other evils.
- legutierr 4y ago
  Decentralized protocols are the competition you are looking for. The only alternative is regulatory intervention, which is unlikely to happen, however much you may want it to happen.
robertlagrant 4y ago
This is all running using decentralised protocols.
- pfortuny 4y ago
  I guess he forgot “secure”, which neither TCP/IP DNS… are.
  - bawolff 4y ago
    They're secure enough when layered appropriately (https, quic, dtls, etc)
dpq 4y ago
Which isn't ever going to happen as the benefits of centralization are too great, as it has been empirically observed time and time again.
- johnebgd 4y ago
  Even Adam Smith knew monopoly was a problem government needs to solve: https://economics-reloaded.com/1_classical_theory/Adam_Smith/1_1_13_monopolies.htm https://economics-reloaded.com/1_classical_theory/Adam_Smith...
- ipaddr 4y ago
  A decentralized economy has shown superior to a centralized economy over time.
goodpoint 4y ago
> Cloudflare is what Google was 20 years ago. Cloudflare is already much worse. It's relentlessly centralizing the whole Internet.
shaky-carrousel 4y ago
And in time, Cloudflare will be what Google is now. Better stay away from them, so we don't end locked in, like we did with Google. They will start using their role as the internet proxy as a lever soon, prioritizing the sites they like and slowing down the sites they don't.

Yup. A bit less catchy than “Don’t be evil” but it’s the same. Cloudflare is what Google was 20 years ago. The cycle can only break by decentralized protocols.

joshmanders 4y ago

> The cycle can only break by decentralized protocols. I disagree. The cycle can break by breaking up the monopolies so that one company doesn't control everything, and allow free market to expand. Competition keeps people from being evil. Evil only happens when there's no reason for them to NOT do evil things. Google was fine until they became the top dog and nobody could even compete.

dizzant 4y ago
> Competition keeps people from being evil. Evil only happens when there's no reason for them to NOT do evil things. I don’t agree. People generally don’t steal, but if they have no food, they will resort to theft to survive. Competition can prevent some ill effects of monopolistic tyranny, which I think is what you’re getting at here, but it breeds other evils.
legutierr 4y ago
Decentralized protocols are the competition you are looking for. The only alternative is regulatory intervention, which is unlikely to happen, however much you may want it to happen.

robertlagrant 4y ago

This is all running using decentralised protocols.

pfortuny 4y ago
I guess he forgot “secure”, which neither TCP/IP DNS… are.
- bawolff 4y ago
  They're secure enough when layered appropriately (https, quic, dtls, etc)

dpq 4y ago

Which isn't ever going to happen as the benefits of centralization are too great, as it has been empirically observed time and time again.

johnebgd 4y ago
Even Adam Smith knew monopoly was a problem government needs to solve: https://economics-reloaded.com/1_classical_theory/Adam_Smith/1_1_13_monopolies.htm https://economics-reloaded.com/1_classical_theory/Adam_Smith...
ipaddr 4y ago
A decentralized economy has shown superior to a centralized economy over time.

goodpoint 4y ago

> Cloudflare is what Google was 20 years ago. Cloudflare is already much worse. It's relentlessly centralizing the whole Internet.

shaky-carrousel 4y ago

And in time, Cloudflare will be what Google is now. Better stay away from them, so we don't end locked in, like we did with Google. They will start using their role as the internet proxy as a lever soon, prioritizing the sites they like and slowing down the sites they don't.