In a message dated 2/23/2003 5:20:41 PM Mountain Standard Time, dsilver@u.washington.edu writes:
yes, many past communication technologies, including those mentioned by steve, have elements of this but what other medium has the whole shebang and is used by so many?
Which exactly takes us back to Yvonne Waern's most emphatic observation: "Now, however, I would like to say that we have reached the "critical mass" people use to talk about. The source of this metaphor is another example of how quantity brings quality." (not sure that the souce of the metaphor demonstrates quality, but it sure as h*ll provided for a bang). The internet (it's a small "i" now, and I'll be happy to discuss that with anyone in a new thread) has clearly reached critical mass. It's entered the public domain, it has a life, and a direction of it's own. And it's become, in every literal sense, indispensible. For all of Steve's factors, for Yvonne's factors, for David's insightful additions, perhaps for more not yet listed, the internet is dramatically bigger than the sum of it's parts. My experience only goes back to my 150 baud Apple II of 1980, but I share Yvonne's view. The internet is no BBS. It's metamorphasized into something quite qualitatively different. The sine qua non of the information age? I think that that's the singular reason we are all so very much interested in it. Keith