Thanks. That Internet rant at Newsweek is astounding.
Quote:
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After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
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That's opening paragraph. The next word in the article was unfortunate:
baloney.
Ooops. Fifteen years later ever single thing he "predicted" as outlandish is, in fact, commonplace ... no baloney, wichever way you slice it. Wikipedia; Amazon; the inevitability of democracy spread through online connections; politics, governing and elections
absolutely impacted by the power of the Internet.
And the irony of ironies? Newsweek is about to merge with an Internet news publication The Daily Beast.
Update: Clifford Stoll, btw, wrote the book "Silicon Snake Oil" -- the Newsweek piece was an attempt to stir up interest in his ideas -- but as I recall it was not fondly regarded even in its day. However, it can still be purchased at Amazon.