[RiverCrochet]

That's because the Internet is basically broadcast TV 2.0 so no one cares about having public IPv4's at home as long as they can get to their memes and streaming. Great job, we took something that was meant to be a next frontier in humanity and let anyone connect with anyone else without gatekeepers/intermediaries and turned it 21st century brainrot troughs. Perhaps a society not in slow intellectual decline would have chosen otherwise.

[ux266478]

> Great job, we took something that was meant to be a next frontier in humanity and let anyone connect with anyone else without gatekeepers/intermediaries

We already had that, it's called shortwave radio. The internet, especially as it's implemented and as it's used, is a terrible way to achieve this. It's service providers the whole way down.

[globular-toast]

There are definitely problems, but IRC in the 90s had strong ham radio vibes imo.

[smallmancontrov]

It would be funny if HAM radio came back because the social filter imposed by the limitations wound up being more important than the technological capability.

[ozim]

Problem is that HAM radio also has social filters you broadcast to everyone and you don’t know who is listening. Encrypted communication is not allowed in HAM.

You are not supposed to use it for „communication” as in Facebook. You are supposed to use spectrum to test your gear and keep transmissions short to leave space for others.

I was in local HAM club and passed the exam for license but never got license to transmit mostly because you are not supposed to chat frivolously over the radio.

[kaoD]

> It's service providers the whole way down.

And still likely better than heavily regulated airwaves.

[ozim]

I do agree.

But at the same time there is a quote by Stanisław Lem...

"Until I used the Internet, I didn't know there were so many idiots in the world"

[dartharva]

> Perhaps a society not in slow intellectual decline would have chosen otherwise.

The "slow intellectual decline" has circular causality with advancement of mass media and convenience tech.