Internet centralization and the original sin of NAT

Network Address Translation (NAT), introduced in 1994 as a short-term solution to IP address depletion, fundamentally broke the Internet's original peer-to-peer design by preventing direct connections between devices—making it impossible for ordinary users to host servers without complex workarounds. This architectural limitation has led to Internet centralization, as people now rely on distant "cloud" servers and services rather than connecting directly to each other, requiring complicated protocols like WebRTC and STUN just to restore basic connectivity that was once automatic. Port forwarding and other NAT workarounds only partially solve this problem and fail to restore the elegant simplicity of the original Internet design.