This post describes Gordon Brander reflections on reading Inventing the Internet by Janet Abbate. It contrasts two design approaches: designing for survivability, and designing for efficiency. The internet was originally developed according to the former principle, though as we in Canada recently learned, the latter philosophy has since prevailed. He outlines are two evolution-inspired paths toward resilience, K-selected and r-selected. The former describes systems that are large, specialized and powerful; the latter describes systems that are small, simple, and massively redundant. The the latter may offer the best protection. "Decentralization, redundancy, diversity, adaptability might be inefficient during stable periods, but together they create resilience." But there's a twist: with each successful layer of decentralization, he writes, "recentralization is inevitable. We see it in nature, too."
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