what we've seen over the past decade or so is the creation of commons on the internet; however, these commons, like Youtube, Twitter, or Instagram, are centrally managed, owned, and controlled. the buy-in to these commons has grown and grown, and now that they are essential parts of the way the world communicates and consumes information, they're being "tightened down", with ever increasing ad loads, censorship, and "steering" (influence via search and recommendation visibility). as global inequality increases ever more starkly, these services represent a powerful means of control over a disaffected and disenfranchised populace - everyone has been herded into the walled garden.

the collective dream we had of the internet as a species-level advancement has, in fact, been a mirage. the idea was that the internet would allow free and uncensored communication across the world, perhaps allowing the citizens of the earth to organize against injustice, corruption, and repression, and to share information freely. in fact, what we see now is a global internet and computing backbone compromised to the core by nation-state actors, and a centralization of internet services controlled by an oligopoly.

not to put too fine a point on it, but the idea of a "global commons" or "collective good" cannot coexist with a world economy of globalized capitalism. the capitalization of the internet is a situation that is unprecedented in human society - we may have crossed an event horizon where societal control has grown to such a level where the very ability of people to fight repression and organize a more equitable society has died.

anyway, happy sunday