Back to Home11/16/2025, 5:50:29 PM

The man who keeps predicting the web's death

56 points
51 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

mixed

Category

tech

Key topics

web evolution

technological change

internet history

Debate intensity70/100

The article discusses George Colony's repeated predictions of the web's death, sparking a discussion on whether the web has indeed changed fundamentally over time and what this means for its users.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

8h

Peak period

4

Day 1

Avg / period

3

Comment distribution6 data points

Based on 6 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/16/2025, 5:50:29 PM

    3d ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/17/2025, 1:44:07 AM

    8h after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    4 comments in Day 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/17/2025, 9:45:58 PM

    1d ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (51 comments)
Showing 6 comments of 51
evolighting
2d ago
1 reply
The web of every age has certainly died, but only to be replaced by a new form of "web". We have had Web1.0, web2.0, or even web3.0, and waht more -- the AI;

The web that people were familiar with and loved back then had already died at that time. The new web is fundamentally different in both underlying technology and business models.

barbazoo
2d ago
1 reply
Did the crypto one ever happen or is it straight to AI?
evolighting
2d ago
No. Web 3.0 is still far away—much like the so-called metaverse.

But AI stuff is everywhere, and AGI-generated material is growing rapidly. If this continues, traditional search engines will soon be overwhelmed by AI-produced content. In that case, you’ll have already stepped into the so-called “AI world.”

After all, AGI-generated content is so cheap, and at some level it does satisfy certain simple needs — so it’s inevitably going to be overused.

And we haven’t even begun to address the logic behind things like AI web crawlers, data aggregation, and the entire backend ecosystem. In the past, your users and their data were just “data.” But now, real human data can actually command a price — because it represents genuine, authentic human behavio.

Something has definitely changed — perhaps we could even call it the death of the traditional web. The old operational logic hasn’t disappeared, but it no longer seems competitive. Users may still like it or feel nostalgic about it, but it no longer creates the kind of appeal or value that companies need in the capital market.

yunnpp
2d ago
Plot twist: he's dead.
nwhnwh
1d ago
Did it actually say "I, for one, think the Web will do what it always does: Democratize knowledge."? Wow. Did you ever read anything from the communication and media studies field? This sea of information does more damage than good.
nwhnwh
1d ago
The graveyard: https://doublespeed.ai

45 more comments available on Hacker News

ID: 45946937Type: storyLast synced: 11/19/2025, 6:11:54 PM

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