Centralization is likely the unintended end result of the internet. Consider a mesh network where all the links have even throughput. Now suddenly one node has some content that goes viral. Everyone wants to access that data. Suddenly that node needs to support a link that’s much wider because everyone’s requests accumulate there.
Someone goes and upgrades that link. Well now they can serve many more other nodes so they start advertising to put others’ viral information on the node with larger link.