No longer bound by the relatively slow speed of modems and regular phone lines, researchers like Emeagwali complete tasks on Internet in a few hours that would otherwise consume days or weeks. Another essential part of Internet is electronic mail. Internet's huge capacity lets it handle tens of thousands of messages at a time. A quick peek into the on-line world reveals impassioned discussions on an almost limitless array of topics, including physics, computers, medicine, films, sex and baseball. Some of the chatterers regard some of the chats as pornographic, prompting an even more impassioned debate on the pros and cons of controlling it.
Networks are inherently democratic.
Once you're connected, you can get all,or most, of the same information that anyone else can get. And your ideas can be taken as seriously as anyone else's. Part of Internet's allure is in its decentralized, creative anarchy. But that also has forced users to learn arcane commands and addresses, a failing that proponents agree must be fixed in coming years. In the age of the automobile, Michigan became known for building a first-rate, statewide networks of highways.