Internet bad? Working in the internet industry, I sometimes wonder, am I advancing the human race? Like if I was a miracle diet pill salesman, I think I would clearly be dragging down civilization. Indeed, on a spectrum of good to bad industries, from say: diamond mining to teaching school children, where would the internet business rank? You've got empowering work-at-home moms on the one hand, and enabling private gambling addictions on the other. I'm not sure. I think the internet is generally good at facilitating international communication within companies, and perhaps even within societies in general. At the same time, it's still encouraging a bunch of people to stay at home and sit motionless in front of a screen (not too different than a television - which I hold to be "bad"). Perhaps the best thing for the advancement of humanity is novelty. If humans confront new technologies and ways of living, there may be awkward adjustment periods (wars and the like), but ultimately humans will find ways to minimize the bad, and maximize the good. So the key is to throw the new tech up there, cringe your way through the bad adjusting phase, and be happy, 50 years down the road, when the good aspects have risen and the bad minimized. At least that's what I'm hoping for.  ¶ 8/09/2006 11:36:00 PM