diff --git a/claims/is-new-internet.md b/claims/is-new-internet.md index a2e60b1..38d13b8 100644 --- a/claims/is-new-internet.md +++ b/claims/is-new-internet.md @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -# Crypto is not building a new internet +# Is crypto building a new internet? The meme of a "new internet" is a consistent and persistent marketing term that has always existed in technology, to the point where the term itself is widely considered a joke. Many technologies are described as being a new iteration of the internet as a way of generating hype or marketing themselves to the public or regulators as important "innovation". [Crypto assets](../concepts/cryptoasset.md) continue on in this marketing trend, yet the underlying reality of the tech is completely removed from any level of paradigm shift that the early internet ushered in. @@ -6,8 +6,6 @@ The early internet was a collaboration between the United States defense sector At each step along the evolution early of the internet, its design was informed and shaped by real applications and the solutions which developed rapidly were fit-for-purpose. Crypto does not resemble this kind of technical formation in any way, because crypto is a solution in search of a problem whose existence is predicated on the political imaginaries of its acolytes who advance the solution allegedly as a means to do reconfiguration projects or enrich themselves through [regulatory arbitrage](../concepts/regulatory-arbitrage.md). Thus there is no resemblance to the early internet in either form or function. -The notion that crypto is building new internet is pernicious form of myth-making that wrapped in phoney populism as an excuse for the already wealthy to enrich themselves on the back of securities fraud and phoney aimless innovation detached from any real world problems. - ## References 1. Blank, Steve. "A Secret History of Silicon Valley." Computer History Museum (2008). 1. O’Reilly, Tim. 2021. ‘Why It’s Too Early to Get Excited About Web3’. O’Reilly Media. 13 December 2021. https://www.oreilly.com/radar/why-its-too-early-to-get-excited-about-web3/. @@ -22,4 +20,4 @@ The notion that crypto is building new internet is pernicious form of myth-makin 1. Yaffe-Bellany, David. 2022. ‘Millions for Crypto Start-Ups, No Real Names Necessary’. The New York Times, 2 March 2022, sec. Technology. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/technology/cryptocurrency-anonymity-alarm.html. 1. Zitron, Ed. 2022. ‘Solutions That Create Problems’. Substack newsletter. Ed Zitron’s Where’s Your Ed At (blog). 23 February 2022. https://ez.substack.com/p/solutions-that-create-problems. 1. Diehl, Stephen. 2021. ‘Web3 Is Bullshit’. 4 December 2021. https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/web3-bullshit.html. -1. White, Molly. 2022. ‘It’s Not Still the Early Days’. Molly White. 14 January 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/its-not-still-the-early-days/. \ No newline at end of file +1. White, Molly. 2022. ‘It’s Not Still the Early Days’. Molly White. 14 January 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/its-not-still-the-early-days/.