Faster cable lines can do the same job in about a minute. The Internet, television and the telephone will blend. This, at any rate, is the conventional wisdom. Other companies harbor similar ambitions. But we don't know whether this vision, or some other, will materialize.
Technologies acquire historical weight by reshaping the human condition.
In the 19th century railroads created a truly national American market that favored mass production and the consumer society. To join this league, the Internet must be more than e-mail or a marketing platform. If you buy a book or car on the Net, the critical part of the transaction is still the book or car. But these are changes of degree, not kind. Thoughtful Internet enthusiasts offer plausible speculations about its greater meaning.