Irving Weber may know. Whoever it was, I bet he or she was more interesting than the folks who dismissed cars as a fad. Formerly the telephone, automobile, radio and television, today it's computers and their global networks. Reject it all and you miss something. But we also need to retain as much control and common sense as humanly possible.
Black boxes are value neutral.
The Internet may speed global democracy, or merely hasten corporate domination and global dictators who make Saddam Hussein look like an Eagle Scout. The enemy is not technology. When technology can help us reach those goals we should not fear to use it. When it seems useless, overpriced, and likely to lead to a destruction of our values we should not hesitate to reject and oppose it. Nicholas Johnson, former F.C.C. Commissioner and author of How to Talk Back to Your Television Set, lives in Iowa City, and is a visiting professor in the University of Iowa College of Law.