In fact, many people may prefer to continue to delegate the complex business of political decisions to elected representatives. But, in future, they will find it easier to monitor the behavior of these representatives and to lobby them. Communities will take new forms in future. Up to now, we have tended to think of communities mainly as geographical concepts. In future, we will see the growth of a new kind of social life-one that crosses borders, but does not necessarily transcend cultures or interests.
More telephone calls go from Germany to Turkey, for example, than from Germany to the United States.
People will build friendships with strangers across the world-sometimes more readily than with the family next door. Something that is acceptable on a screen in the United States may horrify devout Moslems in Saudi Arabia. For those who are determined to have access to evil, the communications revolution will make it easier to do so. Most democratic societies are likely to find the costs of banning such access too high. On the other hand, many people will want the material that reaches their homes to be screened, and will be prepared in exchange to sacrifice access to some of what is available on the Internet and in other ways.