Like all epochal inventions that revolutionize society and define an era, the Internet has both short-term effects and long-term consequences. ... "The dot-com bubble was about lots of experiments to figure out what kinds of business models would work. It was totally overfunded, but it had nothing to do with the real transformation. The real transformation is going to take place over the next decade or two. It will totally change the economics of doing business across the entire world -- and it will have a huge impact on governments and individuals." "We have learned that there are big lags between invention and the full social effects, both for good and for ill, and that was certainly true in the case of electricity and cars. Everyone talks about Internet time and how everything has speeded up and so forth, but I suspect that we are going to see the same time lag with the Internet: long lags before the big effects really take place." Here's another research report from the Aspen Institute. Excerpts from the TOC: Historical Context; Economic, Social, Political Consequences; The Future of the Corporation; Ramifications for Globalization; A Search for Solutions The Internet Time Lag: Anticipating the Long-Term Consequences of the Information Revolution [PDF] | 
