Even the American and French Revolutions were sparked by ideas. The per capita income of the world, which had barely changed from the time of Christ until 1500, began to grow in leaps and bounds.

The Web server is the cheapest printing press in history. It is now possible to sit down at a public Internet terminal, sign up for a free account on a Weblogging service and begin to publish for free. If weblogs.com saw 455 blog updates during an hour's time on a fine Friday night in summer, then what must be the number of posts and Web site updates, and news feeds in the world each day?

Clearly, there is an enormous interplay of ideas occuring in the world today. And while the number of bloggers, and people with Net access, even, is small compared with the population of the world, I would guess that number is much larger than the small group of literate people who sparked the modern world by exchanging ideas in the 16th century. The Net and Apache are like Gutenebrg's press and mail service - enormous enablers that I believe will spark unprecedented change in the world.
Comments 2:12:57 PM    

Chris Gulker's view from Silicon Valley - in words and pictures