Finding Meaning in the Internet...
...How can you tell Gold from Lead over TCP/IP?

"Common Knowledge" tells us that the Internet is an information rich resource with great value to be available for a modest minimal capital investment. But, is this actually a practical reality, or is the net becoming something else far different from what the marketing department at your local ISP would have you believe.
To explore this question, we will start by looking at the typical concept of "content."
We will look at ways of assessing the actual value and reliability of this information "Gold Mine." We will consider whether their can be "value" without "cost."
Next, we will look to see if perhaps the true value of the net lies in the media, rather than the message - is the true value of the net in connection and relationships it builds rather than in data stored in databases and files.
Is the real value of this electronic village actually as a`collaboration and communication tool, where the value is mediation and transportation but such phenomena as "Instant Messaging" news groups and chat rooms may in fact, be the magnetic core that attracts and holds us to the net.
In closing the discussion will touch on whether the Internet, or an other advance in communications can actually change the evolution of the human being and the human spirit.