People who spend a lot of time working with and thinking about the Internet, and not a lot of time working with and thinking about government, often fall victim to the delusion that the Internet somehow "changes everything."
It's not true in the slightest. Governments have consolidated, maintained, and lost power since the dawn of civilization. They have marshaled popular support, quashed dissenters, and brutalized their enemies. They have taken major societal changes (Industrial Revolution, advent of firearms, invention of broadcast media) and harnessed them for the perpetuation of their own power.
Governments will continue to use their central power, the power of violence, to maintain the general framework under which their power endures. The Internet won't change that at all.
I think this is THE crucial point - as long as governments have a monopoly on violence / physical force, the power of the Internet is a mere sliver in comparison.
It's not true in the slightest. Governments have consolidated, maintained, and lost power since the dawn of civilization. They have marshaled popular support, quashed dissenters, and brutalized their enemies. They have taken major societal changes (Industrial Revolution, advent of firearms, invention of broadcast media) and harnessed them for the perpetuation of their own power.
Governments will continue to use their central power, the power of violence, to maintain the general framework under which their power endures. The Internet won't change that at all.