The only model that makes sense is a distributed one: it’s a fundamentally harder problem to bring down a decentralized network, because there isn’t a single point of failure.
Ben’s got it about right (http://bit.ly/zn868). I have been thinking down these lines, too, “mesh networks, distributed databases and natural language processing”:
– More on the mesh
http://my-world.typepad.com/rworld/2007/10/more-on-the-mes.html
– Global justice and the future: Web 3.0 is the mesh
http://my-world.typepad.com/rworld/2007/09/global-justice-.html
In, “Can a PeopleWeb be built on restricted vocabularies?” (http://rworld2.brookesblogs.net/2009/07/12/can-a-peopleweb-be-built-on-restricted-vocabularies-andypowe11/) I suggest, “…the paradigm shift will be in two parts: a move away from restricted vocabularies *and* from centralised to distributed infrastructure.”
But the problem is one of power and control, isn’t it? How will resources be allocated to the development of networks that undermine the business models of all the current service providers?
I wish I had the technical competence to build even one small part of this vision.
rWorld2 