Much chortling in the blogosphere over an unearthed Newsweek article from 1995 by Clifford Stoll, which trashed the idea of the internet as an "information superhighway" with broad uses. Titled "The Internet? Bah!," the article built on Stoll's book, Silicon Snake Oil. Here's a look at what he got wrong, and why. Short answer: he missed the rising tide of innovation enabled by the web.
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Stoll: "No online database will replace your daily newspaper."
Powerful, user-friendly databases poached lucrative classified ads, even as the web moved news to real time and fragmented audiences.
"Nicholas Negroponte predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure."
Moore's Law made devices better, networks got faster, and culture changed quickly.
"Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet... the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople."
Secure web connections made credit-card transactions second nature, and decent design made browser-based shopping easy.
"The Internet is one big ocean of unedited data...You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading."
Better search engines and peer review via social networks and blogs make good data easy to find.
"My search is periodically interrupted by messages like, 'Too many connections, try again later.'"
Maturing infrastructure makes connectivity a much better bet.
"No CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher."
Teachers are still highly relevant, but they (and students) have a much greater array of resources at their fingertips.
"No computer network will change the way government works."
Politics won't end, but greater transparency and campaign organizing are among significant changes to the political world.
"A network chat line is a limp substitute for meeting friends over coffee."
There is no substitute for face time, but video chat and Facebook are a long way from the old text-only world.
"Who'd prefer cybersex to the real thing?"We'll let you answer that one for yourselves.
"[Stoll] doesn't give enough credit to the possibilities of innovation, he doesn't believe people can adapt, and he seems to disregard the long-term trends that were pushing the digital boom." —Farhad Manjoo, Slate.
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