I believe we are approaching a renaissance for the individual.  At the same time that corporations are becoming massive to serve a world audience, individuals are forming tiny, underdog companies that are slaying corporate Goliaths.  Much of the credit for this creation of individual opportunity goes to the Internet.

The Internet represents a true world marketplace and communications center.  Individuals with access to a computer can accomplish virtually any societal need, from the basic transfer of goods and services to the ability to educate anyone on any subject - no matter how remote the location.  The Internet also represents, possibly for the first time in modern civilization, a repository of enormous knowledge (with very little regulation or censorship) that is directly accessible to individuals, regardless of their location, race or status.  The ability of an individual - at any moment with virtually no infrastructure - to access, send or receive information, products and services, or to provide entertainment to or be entertained by anyone in the world, has never before been possible.  Consequently, the Internet is now and will be for the foreseeable future an extremely powerful influence and force on the world.

Anyone who doubts the virtually unlimited potential and influence of the Internet need look no further than the governments and top businesses in the United States and the world who, in a serious and long-term manner, have embarked on becoming Internet ready.  If for nothing more than the sheer amount of financial assets that are now being spent on Internet “gear up,” it will succeed by its own momentum.  All of these institutions cannot be wrong; and even if they are, they have placed such a large bet in terms of time, money and effort already spent that they will make it work, regardless of the obstacles ahead.

A direct benefit for the individual from this Internet “fall out” is that opportunities for entrepreneurs have never been better.  Currently, the Internet is still going through the late stages of a dress rehearsal.  Technology, mainly in terms of available bandwidth (the amount of data that can be transferred per second), has limited the true potential of the Internet.  A lot of uncharted territory will be claimed over the next 10 to 20 years, though, as new technology increases Internet boundaries.  During this evolution, it will be the land of opportunity for anyone with good ideas, determination and patience.

Futurist author George Gilder summed it up best when he recognized that humanity is finally beginning to realize that ideas are the true fuel of civilization.  Just yesterday, raw materials seemed to be the lifeblood that pumped through the veins of society.  Now fused particles of free sand convey billions of instructions a second in this information age, making it possible for ideas to go from the drawing table to the public without the cranking of metal gears on the production line.  In fact, it’s amazing to believe that Wall Street has it right when companies that are still wet behind the ears and only exist on the Internet are worth more than the decades-old “Smoke Stock 500 Companies of America.”  Caterpillar, a 100-year-old company with more than 50 manufacturing plants and 20,000 employees, is now worth less than Yahoo. 

Sometimes I wonder if this is a turning point in civilization, when pure thought finally allows us to detach ourselves from a constant preoccupation with physical goods and satisfaction.  Humanity seems to be reaching a critical juncture.  If everyone had a three-bedroom house with a yard, the entire livable space on planet Earth would be covered.  Instead, by evolving into a society that measures progress by the purity of free thought and action rather than by the number of new highways, we may be able to live without destroying the world.  I still hold hope.