[uudecode]

I think there's a lot of historical evidence over the last few thousand years that people naturally form small communities, or at least small groups within large communities.

Today, people can, in theory, choose from among billions of peers to form these small groups. And the groups can if they so choose connect with each other, via a network of networks.

This internet "connects billions of people". True. But your company's LAN probably does not connect that many.

If a user started creating numerous fake identities on the LAN, then it's likely she would be detected.

Is it possible to create distributed "LANs" over the internet? (rhetorical question)

Another commenter questioned why a distributed Web needs "lack of trust".

People in small groups can and do trust each other. No computers are needed to make this happen.

[wyager]

Unfortunately, I'd like to engage in transactions (both economical and informational) with more than my immediate social group.

[uudecode]

Fortunately the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. There are no rules about how the "distributed Web" must be constructed. As the old saying goes, there's more than one way to do it.