I've been giving some thought to the question of why the rise of the internet provoked such an enormous quantity of gushing regarding its potentialities as the near-messianic solution to all the world's problems. Of course, some of this is probably inherent to the emergence of any new technology; I know that there were many paeans to the powers of the television during its early years. Still, I think the claims for the internet were different, and I've wondered how much of this has to do with the fact that it was the first major communications technology to break out of the broadcast model. For a few hours, I've thought about what other sorts of technologies fit that description, and I can only think of examples- like CB radios- that never gained particularly widespread acceptance.

Taking this a step further, I would argue that this move away from the broadcast model is what made the internet feel so revolutionary, especially in an anti-capitalistic sense. (Obviously, this has changed as the internet has developed and capital has attempted to take advantage of its possibilities from every angle imaginable.) I haven't figured out all of the ramifications of this, but I think it's interesting to consider this perspective in conjunction with some of the ideas we've discussed regarding the proliferation of free labor during the early years of net culture.