The Federal Internet

I’ve been reading a lot of AlternetHistory.com lately. Someone challenged the board to come up with an AH in which the Internet was unrecognizable with a point of divergence later than Jan 1st, 1989.

I couldn’t do it; by that time you already have at least two regional ISPs. If you somehow prevent Bob Rieger from turning Netcom into a business, Barry Shein still gets The World underway. I don’t think the One Great Man theory applies to consumer-oriented ISPs.

But if you’re willing to push the POD a couple of months earlier, you might be able to do something. None of this seems de

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Mirrored from Population: One.

The Federal Internet

I’ve been reading a lot of AlternetHistory.com lately. Someone challenged the board to come up with an AH in which the Internet was unrecognizable with a point of divergence later than Jan 1st, 1989.

I couldn’t do it; by that time you already have at least two regional ISPs. If you somehow prevent Bob Rieger from turning Netcom into a business, Barry Shein still gets The World underway. I don’t think the One Great Man theory applies to consumer-oriented ISPs.

But if you’re willing to push the POD a couple of months earlier, you might be able to do something. None of this seems deeply likely to me, but I think it’s vaguely possible.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from Population: One.