Can we foresee any long-term cultural effects of the internet?

[Boojatta]

If a person who is very mobile retains the same email address for many years, then that person may adopt the practice of allowing the person's "main" email address to be known only to those whom the person expects to probably want to communicate with long into the future. When there is doubt, only "disposable" email addresses may be made known.

The occupation "scribe" becomes a distant memory. By creating a website, one automatically creates unlimited numbers of temporary copies of the website as people view it.

The problem of finding all revisions that ought to be made between the current version of a document and the next version is a problem that will be replaced with the problem of getting reliable public domain records of what was actually written in earlier editions. Those who will want to eliminate "nondocument" documents (analogous to "nonperson" people) will have less occasion to look for paper shredders or Orwellian memory holes.

Some organizations controlled by dishonest people might, if they make prophecies (or if they make claims that are not vague and are, if false, subject to definitive refutation), adopt official policies against the use of paper and in favor of the use of electronic documents as the official versions of their official documents.

[Odin2005]

1. One word: Telecommuting.

I suspect a general "decentralization" of office work will occur.

[Lithos]

2. There have been a couple of profound effects already

Including the movement of jobs to offshore and the rise of digital commerce. Security and privacy also have been drastically altered.

Realize, the Internet is more than just web-pages, it's the rise of the networked society.

L-