[herodotus]

In the early 1990's, during my days as a Comp. Sci. prof, I was so excited about the emergence of the internet. When I saw the Mosaic browser (a precursor to Netscape and later Firefox) I knew the world had changed for the better. Now I have such mixed feelings. Magazines (like the Farmers Almanac) either go online completely or just disappear. They just cannot compete for advertising dollars with Google. And small family run local retail stores, offering not just goods, but a social hub for people are shutting their doors because how can they compete with the convenience of Amazon. Much has been gained from the internet, and much has been lost.

[gaoshan]

The aspect of small local stores functioning as a social hub really hits hard. The social hub, such as it is now, can be so much larger and less personal that it really does feel like a loss (a negative even).

Is the social hub now something like Instagram or a specific forum/subreddit/space for a school or neighborhood? These are really insufficient replacements and people that grew up knowing nothing else likely do not realize just how insufficient they are.

[localhost]

But why do social hubs need to be places of financial transactions?

I was in Delft recently and I really loved their library/community center. Full of music practice rooms, people playing board games on the ground floor, a coffee bar and it was full of people at 8pm. It is open from 9am - 11pm M-F.

You walk or cycle there (free indoor bicycle parking). There is a movie theater across the "street" (no cars).

[ghc]

We decentralized information, and in doing so we centralized culture. I fear that we are only now coming to understand what we have wrought. I am sure that new social structures will arise to replace the old, but who is to say what lies between? It is not out of the question that even a project with noble intentions such as the web may precipitate a dark age for humanity. I don't say this as a pessimist, but as a wide-eyed realist wondering what happens when human civilization no longer requires humanity.

[unnamed76ri]

I attend a church where most of the folks are older and they don’t seem to get it that younger people won’t just find our church like in the old days because people aren’t connected by local businesses like they used to be. I don’t mind saying on here that I attend St John’s. It doesn’t matter because there’s over 1000 other St John’s in the country. No one can find us using modern means.

[MichaelZuo]

But if it’s so valuable… why aren’t people willing to pay for it?

Forgoing luxuries like a vacation to support local stores full of people you know and trust, that might charge 20% more for the same product, seems like an obvious thing…

That almost no Americans do in reality.

[SoftTalker]

Those hubs still exist for things that the internet cannot replace. Barber shops, coffee shops, cafes, and other local dining, pubs and bars. Local parks, especially if you have kids, and other kid-centric events such as sports, scouts, and other activities. Adult rec leagues, gyms, volunteer orgs, etc. But certainly many have gone. There are still bookstores and specialty retailers here and there but not like we used to have.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

> They just cannot compete for advertising dollars with Google.

If print (and other) media had not been designed around advertising revenue in the first place, things might have gone very, very differently.

[1vuio0pswjnm7]

Both Google and Amazon are, generally, just middlemen (intermediaries)

There is no way for producers and consumers to "compete" with intermediaries

If the internet must^1 be full of intermediaries to link producers and consumers, then at least there should be competition _amongst intermediaries_

Google and Amazon have no significant competition from other intermediaries

1. It's possible that intermediaries are unnecessary