He is talking about government control of the economy.
Also this hole point about DARPA creating the internet is just as dishonest. First of all because nobody ever claimed government can never do anything useful, second of all the internet is what it is because of millions and billions of dollers invested in it by both governments and private companies, because of millions and billions of people putting their creativity in it.
The idea that nobody would ever had the idea of networking without the government is just insanity. We can clearly push forward the development of the internet, develop, adopt and implement new protocols today without the government. Even without government there would be some sort of system where we can discuss stuff online.
Right. In fact, is there any human group that don't have some kind of central planning?
Ironically, the only kind I can think of is the anarchist meetings where, somebody told me, nothing is never decided.
I would however also say that Hayek has more to say on the topic and that the parent comment mischaracterized Hayek's arguments.
Little triva, Coase was a student at LSE when Hayek was there in the 30s. They are two of the best and most important economists of this century, both should be studied in depth.
It's a bit of a different situation. Giant companies can still look to prices on the market to make decisions about how to use their resources. Central economic planning, as I understand Hayek to have meant it, means getting rid of market generated prices.