[ernopp]

Indeed. There was a great article in the FT on this looming battle recently:

> Human society, the historian Niall Ferguson says, oscillates between the dynamic of a metaphorical “tower” and the “square”. Sometimes institutions or leaders control social groups in hierarchical ways, just as church towers overshadowed medieval European cities.

> At other times, horizontal networks shape events, operating like crowds in ancient city squares. The “square” used to work best in small, face-to-face groups, but digitisation now enables peer-to-peer systems to operate on a massive scale.

> Now, however, a “tower” dynamic is entering the frame. On Wednesday, the Bank for International Settlements (the central bankers’ bank that, in a delicious irony, occupies an actual black tower in Basel) issued a striking report that lashed out at the “square”.

https://www.ft.com/content/9481d93d-c7ef-4749-9916-bc860d538...