Why the Internet is Corrosive to Institutional Authority

Colleges and universities are probably the next institutions that the internet will annihilate. The internet is corrosive to authority because "authorities" were like the central nervous system of the meta-animals of society. They had a monopoly on the collection, dissemination, and centralization of information, but now the internet is a much better central nervous system. Many of the functions of institutions like banks, governments, and academia can be replicated by internet based systems for very low cost.

Colleges are probably more exposed than banks or governments. The student loan and text book rackets are pretty obvious to even casual observers, and unlike banks or governments colleges don't have much political protection obtained by bribery and blackmail.

Ironically, the STEM fields that schools are so invested in promoting and teaching are probably where colleges and universities will first lose out to the Internet. If you're smart enough to get a degree in those fields, you're smart enough to teach yourself the subject matter by watching YouTube videos. In engineering, especially in tech, university credentials are pretty close to meaningless since jobs in that field are all about doing the next new thing.