Oddbean

Not a techie and I don't know what any of this means either but I feel a tickle down below too. But ISPs provide the physical infrastructure for the servers and clients to connect, so regardless of the protocol, I don't think there's a way around them. You can do as much magic as you want with your software -- it still needs to be transported. Plus (this may be outdate because I learnt it like 20 years ago), there are several layers of ISPs. The local one you're buying access from buys it from a regional one maintaining your state/national network, who in turn buys international connectivity from the Backbone ISPs who lay and keep the submarine cables connecting continents and countries.