Cloudflare experienced a significant outage that affected many popular apps and services for several hours. The root cause was a large configuration file that triggered a bug in one of Cloudflare's systems, leading to widespread failures. This incident highlights a larger issue: the increasing centralization of the internet, where more services rely on fewer providers. Users are becoming accustomed to the internet being always available, which sets the stage for major disruptions when something goes wrong. The author points out that this outage isn't just a minor inconvenience. It disrupted everyday activities, like getting gas or accessing banking services, revealing how much of our lives depend on a reliable internet connection. The internet was originally designed for decentralization, but economic pressures have led to a concentration of services in a few major companies, such as AWS and Cloudflare. This centralization increases vulnerability, as a failure in one of these services can ripple out and affect many others. The piece argues that such outages serve as warnings. They can encourage businesses and governments to build more resilient systems that can function independently when issues arise. The comparison to COVID-19 and its impact on global supply chains underscores the need for redundancy. Just as businesses learned to diversify their suppliers post-pandemic, society should recognize the fragility of its digital infrastructure and take steps to ensure reliability in times of crisis.