# The internet isn’t dead in 2024—but it is one big churn (exploring history and causes) **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-isn-t-dead-in-2024-but-it-is-one-big-churn-exploring-history-and-causes/1011882 **Category:** In My Humble Opinion **Created:** [December 19, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-isn-t-dead-in-2024-but-it-is-one-big-churn-exploring-history-and-causes/1011882 "2024-12-19T18:25:53Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 30
### Author: ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines) #### Post date: [December 20, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-isn-t-dead-in-2024-but-it-is-one-big-churn-exploring-history-and-causes/1011882/30 "2024-12-20T16:35:08Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > I believe this may even be central to the problems you point out. Yes, I plan to make a post about late-stage capitalism and the rise of global dissatisfaction. A lot of things don’t add up any more economically that used to do so. I’m not an economist, but I don’t see any economists doing this kind of work (I’d be happy to read any links that posters should care to provide). > [@](#): > > I would submit (impopular opinion) that this is also due to the deeply entrenched expectation that everything on the Internet should be free or really cheap. That makes it hard to cover the actual costs of quality products. Right. And the corps went along with this for a long time under the rubric of, “Hey, the ads will pay for it–ads, baby!” but now are pissing and moaning and blocking ad blockers, and wow, talk about ingrained incompetence and a lack of vision on their part. > [@](#): > > Streaming, for instance, is still mostly a losing proposition for either the streaming company or the artists. Yeah. Apparently Disney lost $2.5 billion in 2023 on streaming but will turn a profit this year. Many other services won’t be profitable, however. > [@](#): > > The era of cheap Internet was partly driven by unsustainable large amounts of venture capital, which is drying up due to rising interest rates. Good point. And this is affecting business investment and “innovation” across the board. > [@](#): > > The flood of nonsense AI content is the last remnant as there is an overflow of investment money into AI, whereby the use of AI currently is still far below actual (energy and development) costs. They also seem to be hitting a wall in terms of how good this stuff can get, which I wrote about in this post back in February: > [@Contrarian opinion: AI will soon hit a wall; no apocalypse will happen](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contrarian-opinion-ai-will-soon-hit-a-wall-no-apocalypse-will-happen/997707/57): > > Interesting! Here is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E90HBuNaifU) I saw on YouTube yesterday. This was from a year ago, but the guy is still doing new videos about AI art, and his position hasn’t changed: Some of his examples are pretty funny! > [@](#): > > For me the interesting question is how the Internet is going to develop under those circumstances. Will it become basically a bookshop where you can mostly only access content if you pay, or a combination of walled gardens and in between open access areas? Will there be room for voluntary projects and/or small commercial websites, or will the large platforms crush all competition? What has been needed _forever_ is a general subscription to a bunch of news sites, etc. It’s so obvious a solution that I think it has to happen eventually. When it does, I think everything except things like ecommerce will go to pay-to-access. I think YouTube will go pay-to-access with ad and no-ad tiers a la many streaming services sooner rather than later. > [@](#): > > - The increase of regulation is indeed, as pointed out, mainly to the benefit of large corporations and may spell the death of all smaller initiatives. Yes, only the biggest will be able to shoulder the compliance burden. OTOH, maybe smaller entities can buy into a shared compliance program, buy compliance insurance, etc. None of that is going to be _fun_, of course. > [@](#): > > - And furthermore Google and similar corporations have effectively a chokehold on the access to websites/content providers: it appears that many people simply won’t find websites if they are not guided there by Google. While there are a lot of things about which I have said above, “This will never be built again,” with respect to Google and their monopoly, I think there is enough money in the pot to attract competitors/disruptors eventually. Especially since dissatisfaction with Google seems to be on the rise. > [@](#): > > - Finally I’m not sure the advertisement model will continue to serve as a sufficient basis to cover costs/provide income for smaller websites. It doesn’t now, does it? > [@](#): > > I should add that I like to read Cory Doctorow, who writes trenchantly and extensively about these issues (he coined the term 'enshittification) and from who I’ve learned a lot about underlying causes. Yes, he’s great. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-isn-t-dead-in-2024-but-it-is-one-big-churn-exploring-history-and-causes/1011882)._