I think we agree that it’s a both/and situation with economies of scale, so let’s explore Netflix.

The vast majority of energy for Netflix is not in centralized data centers but at their massive number of distribution points. Those distribution points serve a specific problem: end-user-acceptably fast download speeds.

Is that a reasonable problem to solve? Yes, sort of. Instead of people going back to a central server for their content, they go to a regional server. In essence, while end users don’t own their own storage and search infrastructure, the next best solution is a localish solution for the customers in that region.

But what if we just solved the lack of storage and search at home? No profit. So you’ve got that part right for sure