Burn It All Down

Or Maybe Not? Mapping New Internet Economics

This past Saturday, my wife and I, along with several hundred participants, braved dueling crowds in downtown Washington, DC. These crowds were largely descending for the 2024 Capital Pride Parade and K-pop sensation Tomorrow X Together's concert at Capital One Arena.

We, however, aimed to be enlightened and entertained by a varied cast of speakers and performers at Terra Incognita, TEDx MidAtlantic's first gathering in 5 years, organized by co-curators Dave Troy and Nate Mook. We didn't know what to expect and walked away the better for it (in addition to experiencing some vibe of the crowds outside!) It was an enjoyable 24-hour visit to DC. 

The conference mainly highlighted general global problems and solutions. But at one point, the conversations got me thinking about how the Visigoths sacked Rome by using the very roads the Romans built to conquer them hundreds of years earlier. Only now, we were talking about decades instead of centuries: the technology we built in the 1990s was perhaps coming back to destroy us only 30 years later.

Terra Incognita

Terra incognita represents unknown land, areas yet to be mapped. Like the virtual pathways on the internet that resemble those Roman roads. 

The conference was held in 3 parts:

●        Finding Our Footing featured leaders from conflict-ridden areas who shared the challenges they had experienced and the actions they took in response.

●        Shifting Landscapes began and ended with music and focused on highlighting the challenges faced by minorities, people with disabilities, and those holding diverse opinions, as well as discussing how society should act and react to those groups.

●        Charting a Course spotlighted individuals waging their own wars on perceived injustices or imbalances. 

When they are available, you will find the sessions here in addition to all past MidAtlantic TEDx conferences.  But from this brief synopsis, you can probably guess why I imagined Visigoths sacking Rome in 410 AD as a parallel to Chinese and Russian hackers spreading misinformation to disrupt democratic institutions around the world—all while assisted by internal agents—using the same unprotected “roads” of the internet.

Within those 3 tracks, four major subthemes resonated with me:

1) Resistance to institutional conformity, particularly contrarian sciences by Nese Devenot (Pharma) and Jennifer Golbeck (CompSci)

2) Standing up to and fighting back against repressive regimes, including Holly Dagres (Iran), Mykolai Sierga, and his Cultural Forces members (Ukraine War)

3) Deprecating the power of the platforms by Claire Atkin (Ad-tech) and Ben Colman (AI)

4) Those fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged by Sara Minkara (Blindness), Felipe Estefan (LGBTQ), Clinton Johnson (Racism) and David Hogg (Gun control).

The musical performances showcasing the importance and expansion of music were captivating. We heard music by City of the Sun (hacker musicians), Chelsey Green (jazzifying the violin), and commentary by Sunny Sumter (music for all).

Key Theme: Misinformation Problems and Solutions

On the way to the conference, I was reading a Nature article Dave Troy had reposted from Sander van der Linden and several others titled, "Misinformation poses a bigger threat to democracy than you might think." Similarly, at the TEDx, a former Assistant Secretary at Homeland Security and author of Kingdom of Rage Elizabeth Neumann, and Peter Pomerantsev, author of How to Win an Information War, spoke about the war the US and other democracies are fighting against the hordes (aka Visigoths) promoting anti-democratic principles.

Neumann cited the explosion of right-wing misinformation beginning in 2015 and spoke about the challenges of countering this groundswell. She suggested various counter-measures, including pre-emptive inoculation of false news on the part of major institutions, using empathy with others of differing opinions, and building curiosity among readers.

Pomerantsev, on the other hand, drew from historical parallels to Nazism citing the work of Sefton Delmar to undermine the German propaganda machine during WWII. Delmar's 3 principles include: 1) breaking the monopoly on emotions controlling radicalized elements, 2) delivering facts that improve people's lives and give them agency, and 3) fostering alternative communities for them to associate with.

From TEDx to the New Internet

I agree with most of the above solutions and utilize many already, specifically giving users agency in two projects I work on resolving broadband and informational divides. But maybe we need to take it one step further. Given my background with competitive communication networks of the 1980s-90s, which were important foundational elements to the internet, I believe none of these solutions get to the root causes of the problems we face today. I am primarily referring to the lack of economic settlements that incentivize and disincentivize interaction between users, applications, platforms, and networks.

So, what can be done? Do we allow the internet (and society with it) to be sacked and burned? Or do we try to rehabilitate it without the creative destruction and “move fast and break things” ethos that enamors the Neoliberals and Silicon Valley technologists?

Burn It All Down!

Speaking of which, two years ago, Roger McNamee—one of the key actors in the development of the internet and, in particular, Facebook, and author of Zucked—said that we should “burn it all down” at one of Doc and Joyce Searls’ Ostrom and VRM workshops. In 2015, around the same time Neumann said there was an explosion in extremism, McNamee realized the internet he helped build was a mess. For a while, he tried to get people to listen and change the internet but failed to make much progress. So now, like those inside agents of Rome who helped the Visigoths wittingly or unwittingly (like Doc Searls, who wants to end surveillance capitalism), McNamee wants to burn it down.

Or Maybe Remake It?

Do we need to burn the internet down the way the Visigoths and internal agents sacked Rome to save it? There might be another solution. What if, instead, we rebuilt the Roman road system to be more equitable, sustainable, and generative, instead of all the value going back to the platforms at the center (all roads lead to Rome)?

The first step would be to recognize that a stronger internet comes by strengthening the smaller actors and not treating them as slaves, vassals, or material possessions. The major flaw of the internet was that it lacked settlements north-south between layers and east-west between boundaries in the informational stack. Read more on the notion of equilibrism and economic settlements here.

Applying this principle to the application and content (upper) layers, publishers of content could strengthen their own business models by giving readers greater agency and responsibility over content engagement. I call this new approach to engagement and content monetization “The Commentsphere,” and you can read about it here.

At the same time, we'll create a citizen army to strengthen the internet and save it from internal and external forces threatening it. But not out of goodwill or government regulation. Rather, out of a two-sided marketplace that is fair, transparent, and sustainable.

Until we address the root cause of the problems of the internet, which stem from being open, permissionless, settlement-free, and anonymous (in other words, a technology stack without an economic stack) none of the solutions prescribed at TEDx MidAtlantic will have lasting effects. Rome will burn.