[Air-l] The internet and "critical mass"

[KeithDoyon at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/2003 5:20:41 PM Mountain Standard Time, 
dsilver at 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
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