To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (49044 ) 7/11/2001 7:39:25 AM From: John Trader Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 70976 Katherine, I agree. Also, the internet is for turning your brain on. TV, and also some print media, are for turning your brain off. There is something fantastic about this internet technology. One aspect is this thread here, people sharing good inputs on this crazy world of Wall Street, who would have never even made contact in the pre-internet world. Another aspect is that the internet makes it much harder to BS people in my opinion. One exception in the last couple of years of course was the BS from the Wall Street pundits, but this sort of thing is an integral part of Wall Street. Another aspect of the web is that the "middle men" are in danger in all sorts of areas of business. This should be a big efficiency-enhancing type of thing. With all this incredible networking, efficiency, and understanding as a result of the web, how could the world ever be the same, and how could this be the end of it all with regards to investment opportunities? I mentioned this one before, but I came across an article on the history of mankind where they related improvements in standard of living to the amount of networking that went on. It seems that we are not so good at inventing things by ourselves, and the more interaction, the faster things are discovered. They pointed out that it took 300,000 years to go from the invention of the "hand axe" (i.e. sharp stone you hold in your hand) to the axe with attached wooden handle. Ever since then inventions have been coming at a faster and faster pace. If all this is true, it seems to me the web will affect this rate of progress like some sort of tidal wave. The famous quote "you ain't seen noth'in yet", may be right on target. I hope so anyway. John