[VMG]

> I would postulate that if Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook went permanently offline tomorrow, absolutely nothing of significance would change either online or in the society.

That is insane. On the other hand, if you shut down 1993 internet, nobody would have noticed.

> If anything, your list shows how centralized the Internet has become. After all, you didn't name technologies, you named brands/services.

That's the natural evolution of every technology - I can imagine you yearning for the day when steam power and electricity wasn't commercialized and was a noble endeavor of hobbyists.

But I'll translate for you: I am talking about wiki software, multimedia streaming technology, social media and search engines, which you conveniently omitted.

Yes, these things are expensive, so they become centralized and commercialized. The world is still better for it.