I submit that the reason the internet is boring is that these causes are all obvious to us, and this comment won't get upvoted:
1) apps created niche proprietary software everywhere that used to be free and open media
2) the declarative, idempotent roots of the world wide web have been replaced by imperative, brittle Javascriptified spaghetti code
3) Javascript build systems have largely obfuscated any code that can be seen
4) Web 2.0 introduced private social networks in walled gardens that in many ways offer fewer privacy guarantees than before (due to the profit motive of exploiting user info)
5) Monopolies and duopolies now receive the lion's share of funding for research (which tends to aim for increasing profits and attracting eyeballs instead of fundamentally advancing the state of the art)
I'll stop there. It's hard to say how many of these are fundamental impasses to having an open internet again..
1) apps created niche proprietary software everywhere that used to be free and open media
2) the declarative, idempotent roots of the world wide web have been replaced by imperative, brittle Javascriptified spaghetti code
3) Javascript build systems have largely obfuscated any code that can be seen
4) Web 2.0 introduced private social networks in walled gardens that in many ways offer fewer privacy guarantees than before (due to the profit motive of exploiting user info)
5) Monopolies and duopolies now receive the lion's share of funding for research (which tends to aim for increasing profits and attracting eyeballs instead of fundamentally advancing the state of the art)
I'll stop there. It's hard to say how many of these are fundamental impasses to having an open internet again..