The Three Paths
At the crossroads of the early 21st century, the internet faces three divergent futures:
- Path 1: Platform Feudalism. Users are tenants on corporate land ("walled gardens"). History is murdered whenever it becomes unprofitable. Surveillance is the rent.
- Path 2: Regulatory Containment. Governments force platforms to be "nicer" landlords (e.g., GDPR, antitrust). Feudalism remains, but tenants have some rights.
- Path 3: The Third Way. Users become landowners. Infrastructure is federated (like email), not centralized (like Facebook). Preservation is built-in because valid data cannot be deleted effectively when it is distributed.
The Design Principles
The Third Way is built on specific constraints: User Sovereignty is non-negotiable; Surveillance Capitalism is incompatible with freedom; and the Commons must be protected from enclosure.
Field Notes
The "Email" Analogy: The best existing example of the Third Way is email. You can use Gmail to write to someone on Outlook. If Gmail bans you, you can move to Fastmail and still email your friends. This federated interoperability is the blueprint for the entire future web.