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Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

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Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#21

Post by nonrandomstring »

jryhjythtr wrote: post #17
stickyricky wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to the bank and get cash. Businesses accept that cash for goods and services. I observe no difference in my social media habits because I do not use Meta products.

Good for you, Mr. Exception-to-the-rule. (Btw, the same is true for me too).

And me. So your "exception" hypothesis is getting weaker :)

You've really got me thinking.

Is there a word for that thing when "everyone knows" what they think "everyone is doing", but once they start to dig deeper it turns out nobody really is? Everyone is pretending to, because they think that's what everybody should say and do?

Mass delusion? Group fallacy? Fashion? Groupthink? None quite capture it.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#22

Post by stickyricky »

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #20
stickyricky wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to the bank and get cash. Businesses accept that cash for goods and services. I observe no difference in my social media habits because I do not use Meta products.

Just go and get cash during a bank run. How hard can that be?

That wasn't provided as a condition. In a bank run, Visa's existence or non-existence is irrelevant. Credit is frozen.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#24

Post by nicopappl »

It is true that power laws are seen everywhere, and that there are reason for those.

I like the article, because it exposes very quickly a very powerful idea, but I disagree with the conclusion.

Information networks are built by humans, they are designed, they are not necessarily bound by the rules of evolution. Which means we may yet be able to find a system that is not afflicted by the curse of perpetual destruction and reconstruction.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#25

Post by yamtaddle »

jryhjythtr wrote: post #12
LatteLazy wrote: post #5

And yet our economic and social systems have never been more decentralised...

Meta and Visa suddenly go permanently offline. What does the social and economic landscape look like now?

It's a little rough for about a week and by a month out everything's basically completely fine.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#26

Post by jasmer »

LatteLazy wrote: post #5

And yet our economic and social systems have never been more decentralised...

Yea, not really. The wild west was wild. People used to make up their own banknotes, there were fraud and schemes everywhere. We take for granted that our bank won't steal our deposits, that's a new concept. Most of that is derived from some degree of 'centralization' - that said - it's definitely not this 1-to-many scheme that the language implies. The Fed has immense power, but is not really in your business. You can exchange money with whomever you want (almost) and it's none of the Feds' business.

Much like 'AI' I think this word 'decentralization' triggers something within.

It's worth considering that impulse (i.e. freedom is really important, and we should think about it), but also needs constant contextualizing.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#27

Post by vishnugupta »

jryhjythtr wrote: post #12
LatteLazy wrote: post #5

And yet our economic and social systems have never been more decentralised...

Meta and Visa suddenly go permanently offline. What does the social and economic landscape look like now?

India has its own payment processing stack, UPI so I expect Visa going down shouldn’t lead to a major disruption. It’s yet to be tested however so we won’t know until Visa actually goes down.

WhatsApp going down on the other hand will be a big pain as lots of businesses and people rely on it. Though I expect them to figure out alternatives within a few weeks.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#28

Post by Ericson2314 »

jasmer wrote: post #26
LatteLazy wrote: post #5

And yet our economic and social systems have never been more decentralised...

Yea, not really. The wild west was wild. People used to make up their own banknotes, there were fraud and schemes everywhere. We take for granted that our bank won't steal our deposits, that's a new concept. Most of that is derived from some degree of 'centralization' - that said - it's definitely not this 1-to-many scheme that the language implies. The Fed has immense power, but is not really in your business. You c…

But also, the wild west was founded upon the US wars with the native americans (centralized) and railroad monopolies (centralized).

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#29

Post by Ericson2314 »

The point of open protocols is not that there will actually be many providers, but that one could switch providers easily if they do something fishy. It's about the threat, and what can happen on margin.

Keeping a sword dangling over the monopolist's head is reasonable.

Re: Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it

#30

Post by Retric »

skybrian wrote: post #13

Nit: Dunbar’s number is casually used in a way that doesn’t seem relevant here. It’s not true that we can only remember about 150 entities. People know many thousands of words. (It is true that there are limits on what people will remember.)

Dunbars number relates to remembering relationships between people which is 150 * ~149 things not 150.

You might not remember what everyone in the group thinks of everyone else, but keeping track of grudges is often relevant.

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