I was happy to see how yesterday's discussion progressed. Yes there was an I1 and I2, and yes there was an Arpanet and we should consider the more expansive view that includes all communications technology diffusion (thanks, Frank). Since this thread is headed toward a more expansive look, let's take it into the realm of biology. Human reality is no different from the biological process of increasing complexity through layers of simplicity and the Internet is a small part of that. We are destined to network and increase our connectivity. Trillions of poorly organized cells in the fetus become the dynamic network of billions of neurons that form the human brain. But, remember the individual cells in the mature brain are the survivors of a much larger group of undifferentiated fetal neurons and they survived because they became connected, part of the network. They are part of a greater life that they are not even aware of. It is easy to extrapolate this concept out to humanity and our frantic efforts to build communication infrastructures --- some that are reabsorbed and some that become part of us. This is a popular science fiction theme as witnessed by the Star Trek's Borg and the ancient concept of the Gaea (or Gaia). I1 and I2 represent a humble step in understanding where this is all headed. I covered all of this in a lecture in Jamaica back in 1995. It was hard for the students to follow, back then, but maybe now they can see a glimmer of the networked future. It would be interesting to have a doctoral student study the biological parallels in the evolution of the Web. John Gochenouer Southwest State University 1501 State St. Marshall, MN 56258 Email: Gochenouer@southwest.msus.edu