

The Internet will end capitalism as we know it. I have read the whole internet - vtempest

At last I have read the whole internet! Or at least downloaded all the things.The mass-approval structure of capitalism makes it an unbalanced system. There is a snowball effect wherein surfing sites gets all the public&#x27;s attention means that&#x27;s where all the advertising and business goes. You&#x27;re either internet business or out of business. Internet&#x27;s love affair with capitalism gives extremely disproportionate economic incentive for students to develop an authentic passion for anything else. And the most ironic thing is, like the praying mantis which eats its lover after intercourse, the internet is the thing most likely to destroy capitalism, by making all the world&#x27;s education, information, and entertainment free and making legal norms against this freedom seem out-of-date. What do you need this money thing for... plane tickets? And with bitcoin, the internet is taking the power away from the banks and from the government and FBI to decide what gets funded, it&#x27;s all becoming decentralized. Facebook launched a charity to spread internet to the third world to solve poverty and fwd.us to end borders; Google wants to put satellites that give internet to everyone so as to end restrictions in places like China or developing nations. We used to go outside, outside of using the internet, but now we have smartphones to avoid that problem.  But smartphones you have to take out of your pocket... so then there&#x27;s Google Glass.  The need to pay web employees only encourages ads, the scourge of the web. All the internet rich people are putting their money back into S&amp;T research, anyways.  The internet can do everything, even make us immortal as the transhumanists believe by scanning all our neurons in our brain so as to create a version of you that exists within the internet.  All the rules are being disrupted because the internet has made information no longer a scarce good.
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skidoo
I wish I shared your enthusiasm. But I think the truth is that the majority of
the world's population can not possess the means to afford any digital device,
internet or no. The internet is huge, but it still is merely a fraction of the
total population that has even gone online. I know that I myself am the only
person on my street (somewhere in the American bible belt) who owns any home
computer system, and the only portable device I own is this laptop.

Also, consider that the longer the internet is around, the more that various
businesses are trying desperately to monetize from it. Even the largest online
businesses such as facebook or google, much of what they deal in is still
considered "theoretical dollars" and not hard currencies.

As far as Bitcoin, keep in mind that bankers have had no qualms with launching
massive wars in the past, so if push comes to shove they will take no issue
with deafening any perceived competition as maliciously as possible.

~~~
icebraining
_I think the truth is that the majority of the world 's population can not
possess the means to afford any digital device, internet or no._

I find that very hard to believe, consider for example:

    
    
      Fifty-seven percent of the adult population -- or more than an
      estimated 151 million people -- have mobile phones across the 17
      countries Gallup surveyed in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010.
    

[http://www.gallup.com/poll/149519/mobile-phone-access-
varies...](http://www.gallup.com/poll/149519/mobile-phone-access-varies-
widely-sub-saharan-africa.aspx)

    
    
      The speed and scale of the world's love affair with mobile phones
      was revealed yesterday in a UN report that showed more than half the
      global population now pay to use one.
    
      The survey, by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an
      agency of the UN, also found that nearly a quarter of the world's 6.7
      billion people use the internet.
    

[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/mar/03/mobile-
pho...](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/mar/03/mobile-phones1)

Of course, there are many people who can't afford one, but I don't think it's
the majority anymore, and it's dropping steadily.

And while most only have limited devices (dumbphones), these have already been
shown to be enough to enable very important functions, such as Kenya's mobile-
based alternative to banking.

------
ibstudios
A billion poor people with internet != people with a billion dollars.

