Let us consider two worlds, both virtual.

In the first world, information technology helps to impose increasing constraints and appetites on a population addicted to immediate gratification and self-aggrandizement. Websites are dominated by a smorgasbord of titillating images, shopping extravanganzas, or personal blogs where the favorite genre is the rant and the respect for different opinions withers away in the hot air of rumor, innuendo, and shrill, infantile politics. The internet becomes a strange hybrid of talk radio, Playboy (or worse), and the Mall of America.

Another world: web technologies assist in perceiving the world at a slower pace. They help us make instant connections and to meditate on the responsibilities that come with listening in, adding our voice, or deriving pleasure from an image. They bring greater efficiency not for the sake of making our lives more complex or to persuade us to buy the next generation of devices, but rather to solve the terrible social, economic and ecological problems that beset our planet. The internet brings us together while allowing us to keep our differences intact.

So I am inspired to believe.