They are free to communicate with one another without revealing their accent, gender, ethnicity or religion. There is no discrimination in the benign anarchy of the Internet. Its hierarchies are functional, fluid and ephemeral, its communities intentional and consentual - and people can exit at any time. On the Internet human interactions are no longer cluttered with the trivia of our local and bodily identities. Formed not on the worn and crowded terrain of the earth but in the bodiless ether of cyberspace, virtual communities satisfy human needs for communication and belonging without imposing any of the traditional constraints, duties and responsibilities.
Virtual community is community at zero cost.
The Bible of the Internet is the new magazine Wired. Partly-owned in Britain by the Guardian, Wired is the authentic voice of the Internet worldview. However, its publishers are selling more than a magazine - they are selling an Utopia. It is, if you like, a designer Utopia, customised for people who believe in technical fixes and not in morality or politics and the long haul we face in the struggle to protect our human and natural environments. There are a lot of these people around.