<story><title>The internet as existential threat</title><url>https://www.raphkoster.com/2017/06/27/the-internet-as-existential-threat/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jpttsn</author><text>Our expectations have since increased. I wouldn&amp;#x27;t want to go back to the GDP I thought was fine ten years ago.</text></item><item><author>jff</author><text>&amp;gt; I don&amp;#x27;t want to go back to a world where financial transactions are conducted based on hand-scratched notes and shouting on trading floors.&lt;p&gt;Seemed to work pretty well for a long time.</text></item><item><author>LeifCarrotson</author><text>&amp;gt; The Internet ... started out by only connecting computer networks. But today it connects networks of vastly different sorts: computers, yes, but also financial networks, distribution networks, road networks, water networks, power networks, communication networks, social networks.&lt;p&gt;Those are all computer networks. It just happens that some of them involve computers  running financial software, or computers running electrical control software, or computers running social software. Or computers running phone software, or light-bulb software, or toaster software.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps we don&amp;#x27;t need networked toasters, but I don&amp;#x27;t want to go back to a world where financial transactions are conducted based on hand-scratched notes and shouting on trading floors.&lt;p&gt;Computers are just too powerful to ignore. The problem is not that they are computers, but that some are locked down for user control of networking, but simultaneously designed insecurely as, say, &amp;quot;smart web cams&amp;quot; without the necessary incentives to keep them secure.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Bartweiss</author><text>One subtle question: how much of that is GDP change is growth, and how much is risk redistribution?&lt;p&gt;Obviously communication efficiency has real advantages. Some of what has been gained is lasting improvement. But humans have a nasty tendency to enforce order on chaotic systems and mistake legibility for growth. Everywhere from forest fires to housing prices, we create systems that delay, but &lt;i&gt;concentrate&lt;/i&gt;, risk. Annual brushfires are extinguished, leading to decadal infernos. Credit default swaps enable high default lending at low risk, right up until they don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m darkly suspicious that many of the gains from communications technology, particularly in stock trading, fall into this category. They&amp;#x27;ve allowed us to push concentrate and defer everyday risks, getting us growth over most time windows when the reality is that we&amp;#x27;ve redistributed risk.</text></comment>
<story><title>The internet as existential threat</title><url>https://www.raphkoster.com/2017/06/27/the-internet-as-existential-threat/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jpttsn</author><text>Our expectations have since increased. I wouldn&amp;#x27;t want to go back to the GDP I thought was fine ten years ago.</text></item><item><author>jff</author><text>&amp;gt; I don&amp;#x27;t want to go back to a world where financial transactions are conducted based on hand-scratched notes and shouting on trading floors.&lt;p&gt;Seemed to work pretty well for a long time.</text></item><item><author>LeifCarrotson</author><text>&amp;gt; The Internet ... started out by only connecting computer networks. But today it connects networks of vastly different sorts: computers, yes, but also financial networks, distribution networks, road networks, water networks, power networks, communication networks, social networks.&lt;p&gt;Those are all computer networks. It just happens that some of them involve computers  running financial software, or computers running electrical control software, or computers running social software. Or computers running phone software, or light-bulb software, or toaster software.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps we don&amp;#x27;t need networked toasters, but I don&amp;#x27;t want to go back to a world where financial transactions are conducted based on hand-scratched notes and shouting on trading floors.&lt;p&gt;Computers are just too powerful to ignore. The problem is not that they are computers, but that some are locked down for user control of networking, but simultaneously designed insecurely as, say, &amp;quot;smart web cams&amp;quot; without the necessary incentives to keep them secure.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jimktrains2</author><text>Adjusted for inflation, has it changed that much in 10years? Ditto for median wages.</text></comment>