Comment by dash2

  Here’s the problem with IP addresses: there aren’t enough of them....
  As a consequence, the Internet has allowed intermediate
  computers to rule. These are like parasites that have grown
  too large to remove without killing the host. The technical
  flaw that favored intermediate computers prefigured a world
  where middlemen business models thrive.

The handwave is the word "prefigure". How did IPv4 and NAT play any role in the dominance of Facebook, Airbnb et cetera? This is an analogy masquerading as an argument.

  It is not fundamentally necessary to have any intermediate 
  company profiting whenever a person reads news from their 
  friends, rents an apartment from a stranger, or orders a 
  ride from a driver.

The author provides no evidence that the services of Airbnb, Uber etc. have no value added. These companies carefully designed interfaces to help us find what we need. If they did not add value, we would still be using newsgroups.