Heat Death of the Internet | Hacker News Reader

Heat Death of the Internet

takahe.org.nz

88 pointsrglullis28 comments

What we need is a return to idealistic projects again, to rebuild Web 1.5, by the fortunate among us who can afford it.

I am aware of a number of efforts to replace not just the web, but most of the services on the internet, with private intranets to serve specific subgroups. The goal is to increase security, privacy, and to regain the useful things that the internet is increasingly unable to support well.

I suspect that sort of thing will become increasing common.

Can you list some of them as I'm interested.

I can't, because none of them have a public point of presence on the internet. That's rather part of the point of doing it -- to keep the internet at arm's length. They're all, effectively, invite-only since they serve groups of people who are already known to each other.

Some do this on a small scale, like operating a VPN and a series of services accessible over the VPN. Others on a larger scale, like running what amounts to a small ISP and communal servers.

If you're into the idea, it isn't be that hard to get things going on the technical side, if you use the internet itself as your "dumb pipe communications channel". You just need some friends who are interested in joining you.

I am doing something like this myself. SSH as the access method. Invite only. Quality not quantity. Member get member, so to speak. I can’t sit back and complain and then not do anything.

Aren't those needs already served by private groupchats on Twitter/Facebook, et al.?

”The goal is to increase security, privacy (…)”

Not to these subgroups, no. They don't provide the benefits of security/privacy, are walled gardens, are considered by many to be problems, not solutions, and are services on the public internet. The whole point of these efforts is to avoid being on the public internet.

This is so true and sad. More about the enshitification of everything, but calling it "heat death" makes me think how the whole thing is steadily unraveling and so many things are not exactly getting better, but worse and yes... practically everything is selling us ads or spying on us now. I also laughed at the mattress part as I recently bought a mattress and started receiving an endless amount of ads despite not needing one for another decade.

> calling it "heat death" makes me think how the whole thing is steadily unraveling

"Heat death" seems especially appropriate when talking about google results being pages of nothing but scraped results of SEO rated pages of scraped results, ... Or youtube showing ads for ads for ads...

And how long before our AI results are built primarily on previous generations of AI results. Turtles all the way down to ... mindless nothing :(

> TAGS: FICTION

Why is this tagged as fiction? It's clearly not.

I guess they didn't actually go to the library.

This is so true and in touch with the reality. I felt like I read my emotions and frustrations through the words.

Searches article for the word heat

What does Heat Death mean? First guess was datacenters burning down

it's a metaphor for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe

Install an adblocker, stop the heat death?

They mention the ad blocker eventually asking for money or some other issue with it. Honestly though...you shouldn't have to do that just for the Internet to be usable.

Did you read the article? The rot extends much further than the surface area covered by Ublock Origin.

Pretty good rant. No tangible actions.

Here’s what you can do: - Delete all social media. All of it. Now. (Hacker news is ok) - Install Adblockers - Install librewolf of mullvad browsers - Pay for proton mail, proton pass, proton vpn - Cancel all streaming services and Spotify - Delete all food ordering apps - Stop drinking alcohol - Own your own car and stop taking Ubers - Don’t discuss politics - Don’t read the news - Only give time to family - Figure out who your friends are, this will become very easy once you delete social media. - Live within your means. - Be charitable - Enjoy the simple things

It’s just a start, but I’m living it.

> Own your own car and stop taking Ubers

Given that you went straight to "own your car" instead of "Use public transport, bike around and use regular taxis when needed", I will assign you a 98.85% chance of living in an North American suburb or exurb.

I’m about as far away from America as they come. I’m all for public transport, and use it regularly, and I also bike.

I use PT to get to and from work (can’t bike), and bike everywhere else. For any further trips I use the car to transport my partner and my dog. You can’t take dogs on public transport in my country

The point is that your whole "own your car" is just a personal preference, not an imperative.

That’s fair enough. I believe in being more independent from companies and doing your own thing. If you’re fortunate to be in a progressive city with good walkable areas, cycling areas, and public transport options then definitely lean into it

Yeah agree, owning your car is, like, the one thing I would like companies to free us from the burden of.

Meanwhile it seems like we're going the other direction/companies are increasing our burden and building unsustainable systems.

Edge case: https://www.carscoops.com/2024/04/fisker-ocean-totaled-over-...

The irony of this comment and "Strangers on social media assume you are American and get mad when you correct them." in the essay

"The future is a bunch of shit that's going to break." - Anonymous

You turn on a computer and connect to another computer which connects to... another computer!! (gasp!)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com