John West's new book argues the internet should be torn down and rebuilt
What happened
On November 2, Hacker News' front page covered John West's new book The Internet Will Die, and So Will You. The Pulitzer winner and technologist argues the internet has been captured by oligarchs and is full of generative AI slop, so it isn't worth saving and should be rebuilt from scratch. He cites a 2025 surge of 8,000% in AI agent traffic, now exceeding human users, and the 2001 Baltimore tunnel derailment that cut a main fiber bundle and slowed networks across the US.
Written by AI from the coverage · updated 1 hour ago
Coverage
Follow the reports to see the story from different sides.
- Hacker News front pagePlease Let the Internet Die. It's Time to Start Over
普利策奖得主、技术专家 John West 在新书《The Internet Will Die, and So Will You》中主张，被寡头俘获、充斥生成式 AI 垃圾内容的互联网已不值得挽救，应推倒重来。他援引数据称，2025 年 AI 智能体流量激增 8000%，数量已超过人类用户；互联网远比人们想象的渺小脆弱，2001 年巴尔的摩隧道脱轨事故就曾切断主要光纤束导致全美网络变慢。
Heat over time
Not enough continuous observations to draw a trend yet.