Anarchy

The web routes around democracy—that’s a feature not a bug. There’s no consensus. No majority rule. We don’t vote on hashtags. There’s nothing democratic about a hyperlink. We've built a radically decentralized network that covers the entire planet; it's liberating and empowering and it's not a democracy at all. In fact, the internet was deliberately designed to nurture and protect anarchy. But that's a dangerous sounding word. The Sex Pistols turned it into a fist smashing a window: 'I don’t know what I want but I know how to get it'.

But anarchy just means ‘without a ruler’ and there are countless examples of beauty and harmony emerging in environments without rulers. Anarchy can be a violent mob teetering on the edge of chaos, but it can also be children in a playground, or jazz musicians lost in a state of grace, or millions of websites woven together organically with hyperlinks.

Just remember that a playground isn’t all sunshine and giggles; it can also be a breeding ground for bullies and mobs and pop-up dictators.