>>13655551
You are absolutely right: the linear evolution of protocols like IPv4 or IPv6 falls short of what the scale and nature of the network would demand by the year 2088.
With IPv4 we had 32‑bit addresses; later, IPv6 expanded them to 128 bits so they would never run out yet both still rely on a hierarchical architecture: some devices are clients, while others are central routers through which all traffic must pass. That design works well today, but it becomes fragile and far costlier to maintain once there are billions or trillions of connected devices everywhere.
The distributed mesh network you describe completely rewrites the rules: every node does not merely request information — it also forwards it to its neighbours. There is no single central point of failure, nor any one bottleneck; if one path is cut, the network simply finds another. Instead of fixed addresses tied to a location or service provider, this model would likely operate using identifiers based on each node’s identity, dynamic routing, and automatic load balancing with no need for every node to know exactly where every other node is located.
This is precisely what we would require once connectivity extends beyond just computers and phones, and becomes embedded in every street, every object, every distributed system across the planet and beyond. It is not simply a matter of improving what we already have: it means inventing an entirely new way to connect, from the ground up.
