That problem is repeating itself in force within the Internet system, largely because so many of these platforms — Google, Facebook, Amazon and the like — are really “networks” that connect users to each other. The larger they get, the more indispensable they become to users seeking to reach each other — they are “natural” monopolies. That scale allows them to insinuate themselves into other markets as Google has done, morphing from a core search business into YouTube videos, Android smartphones, and, most perniciously, data mining and digital advertising.

Meanwhile, other industries and businesses become little more than grist for the monopolists’ mill. The edge giants dwarf the cable, telco and satellite companies who spend billions on faster networks that the edge companies then commandeer, free riding off the value created by this ever-improving connectivity. Features like home assistants, 4K television and virtual/augmented reality exist not because Google or Apple invented them — they’ve been science fiction staples for years — but because ultrafast wired and wireless infrastructure has been built to support them.