And a salary, of course. So the idea is that by being a bit more selective, putting a bit more thought into each selection, Rewired will deliver a bit more to chew on each week, hence more chewing. I did play devil's advocate, wrote back and suggested that any culture, especially one budding as freshly as Web culture, does well to take a good sober look at itself on a regular basis, but already, this one's revealing itself to be not all that new after all. Thus we segue into the year in review, the fun part. As intriguing as it can be to try to unravel which business models will work out here and which won't, surely one of the lessons of 96 is that any model designed to purr along smoothly toward success can reel out of control once you plug in the human factor.
Personalities still power the engines of commerce, as they always have, for better or worse.
It's as much a part of the real world as, well, death and taxes, despite extravagant Extroprian hopes to the contrary. More, it was remarkable for that sinking feeling, or rather, that feeling sinking in that it won't for a while, either. What did happen was the passing of a whole generation of grandiose visions and claims for the significance of networked communications. Now properly mythologized , the days of the Digerati have all lined up and joined the pageant of history, pretty to look at from a distance, but far, far away now as geeks struggle to make ends meet, work up a fine case of tendonitis and wonder out loud when being at the forefront of a hip new industry will translate into some tangible reward, or at least a life. Because once it was over, it was over.