A lot of new terms. Everyone's an expert. After the recent turbulence in technology stocks, everybody's grandmother's an expert, everybody feels implicated in the big event. They've either been burned or made millions or just begrudge electronic migration for the sake of it. These are the effects of a new medium, and these are still only rumblings.
Most people still underestimate the significance of the Internet.
It is much more significant than even Microsoft, the commercial and legal equivalent of Pontius Pilate, could ever be. It is beyond the scope of a corporation because it is the new ether, as vital and elusive to grasp as the air we breathe. Vital, because it is increasingly the consumer's dominant medium. This is progress. Because with one click on the same mouse, you can start and stop a movie, sell a share and catch the latest headlines.