See also "Project Cybersyn" for another attempt at making a computerised command economy work. It's referenced in the article.
While this looks like an fascinating read, it's worth remembering that the thing that makes the Internet the Internet, distinguishing it from other Western systems like X25, Minitel, and telecoms in general is its peer-to-peer nature with minimal central arbitration(+).
The Soviet Union rationed access to photocopiers. There was no way it would ever build a network that was not entirely subject to central control, and this must inevitably handicap its usage and development.
(+) Minimal, not zero. The central point for a long time was Jon Postel.
Project Cybersyn is interesting as a kind of alternate-history thought experiment, but imo it's not that useful as an example to study historically to learn empirical lessons from, because of how early it was canceled (due to military coup). It was first proposed in mid-1971, with design and prototyping starting in 1972, and Allende was overthrown in 1973, when it was still at a prototype stage. If it had run for a few more years, there would've been a lot more to go on.
While this looks like an fascinating read, it's worth remembering that the thing that makes the Internet the Internet, distinguishing it from other Western systems like X25, Minitel, and telecoms in general is its peer-to-peer nature with minimal central arbitration(+).
The Soviet Union rationed access to photocopiers. There was no way it would ever build a network that was not entirely subject to central control, and this must inevitably handicap its usage and development.
(+) Minimal, not zero. The central point for a long time was Jon Postel.