The Web Runs on Love, Not Greed
Last week, Kevin Kelly got an article published in the Wall Street Journal called The Web Runs on Love, Not Greed. Somehow, Dave Winer of Scripting News got permission to republish it electronically.
This article is a good summation of the Internet experience of the past year. A lot of people have become jaded, saying that the implosion of many Dot Com businesses indicates that the Internet has somehow failed to live up the expectations of the general public. Kevin Kelly refutes this by pointing out the numerous unbelievable successes that exist right under our noses:
In our disappointment of grand riches, we have failed to see the miracle on our desks. Ten years ago, it was easy to dismiss visions of a wondrous screen in our homes that would provide the whole world in its magical window. The idea of a universal information port was considered uneconomical, and too futuristic to be real in our lifetimes. Yet at any hour of today, most readers of this paper have access to the full text of the Encyclopedia Britannica, precise map directions to anywhere in the country, stock quotes in real time, local weather forecasts with radar pictures, immediate sports scores from your hometown, any kind of music you could desire, answers to medical questions, hobbyists who know more than you do, tickets to just about anything, 24/7 e-mail, news from a hundred newspapers, and so on. Much of this is for free. This abundance simply overwhelms what was promised by the most optimistic guru.