Centralized systems are failing for two simple reasons: They can’t scale, and they don’t reflect the real world of people.
The world is becoming increasingly complex. Companies manage supply chains in real time, while hundreds of thousands of gamers gather in shared virtual worlds. Networks must carry vast and growing amounts of traffic, with no end in sight. Centralized systems eventually crumble under the strain of that complexity.
Decentralized approaches often seem impractical, but they work in practice. The Internet itself is a prime example–it works because the content, the domain name system and the routers are radically distributed.
But it’s the human element that is really driving the pressure for decentralized solutions. This shouldn’t be too surprising. Biological phenomena like the human body and the global biosphere have had billions of years to evolve, and they are the most complex decentralized systems we encounter.More concretely, people are seeking ways to communicate and collaborate across the artificial boundaries of organizations and geography. They want their music, on their terms, just as they want high-speed connectivity anywhere, any time.
Werbach ties in decentralisation with the next WWW – Web Services, Weblogs and WiFi.
