The world-wide network of computers called the Internet has grown rapidly in the past five years, and there are now estimated to be over forty million people using it. Anyone can put information onto the World Wide Web, and once up it can be seen from anywhere in the world. As a new medium, one which may soon grow to be as important as television or even, if you listen to some of the less restrained commentators, print itself, the Internet has to be taken seriously. My six year old daughter has had an email address since she was two and has several electronic penpals around the world. People who do not live close together can remain in regular contact through the telephone, but the quality of interaction possible over the Internet is far richer and more satisfying.
Friendships can blossom online, as can love.
Now the people who live online are more and more considering what it means to die online. This is not the science fictional idea of downloading your brain into the computer network and living forever as a pattern of electrical impulses scattered over the world, but the more mundane - online memorials, and virtual cemeteries. There are lots of reasons why someone might want to do this. A memorial in the real world, however magnificent, can only be located in one place. Have you visited the Taj Mahal - no, and until you do you will not have paid your respects.