Life on the Electronic Frontier: An Interview with Howard Rheingold

Howard Rheingold: "People aren't really interested in interactive entertainment and information so much as the chance to connect with others and form relationships."

Do you consider yourself more interested in forming relationships or with interactive entertainment?

If the Internet was in some way being regulated per hour, would it be as big as it is now if there was a fee levied with its usage?

How often, if at all, do you meet people initially online, and proceed to meet with them face-to-face thereafter (other than online dating sites)?. I feel as if the internet is, in itself, its own community that doesn't mingle too much with reality too often. would you agree with that?

"The community is not inside the computer. The community is between the people".

"Some people feel that the computer is going to make us more isolated". Have you seen this happen? Before the internet, people actually had to communicate verbally. Now, we can sit in front of a computer and communicate which has removed that face-to-face communication.

London: "You can't talk back to [the TV]". With the Internet, you can indeed talk back to the TV via Twitter, just as you would on the Internet.

How many hours a day do you think you spend on the Internet?
Personally, I spend most of my time on the Internet doing homework (for this HW too), communication with people (as opposed to calling them), and for entertainment. I also stream/download movies from the Internet that I then could play on the Television too which inedibly adds more time you spend on the internet.

 If Rheingold says, "'Web years' as being about a month". Where/what does he base that off of?

What will the internet look like in, say, 10 years down the line?

Google Fiber: http://fiber.google.com/about/
"Google Fiber starts with a connection speed 100 times faster than today's broadband. Instant downloads. Crystal clear high definition TV. And endless possibilities. It's not cable. And it's not just Internet. It's Google Fiber"
Does this prove Google is going to take over the world? I think yes.