Speech was our first (sophisticated) form of communication. It allowed us to communicate with one individual or a small group of individuals. The communication was limited in time (duration of talk), reach (those who could hear it), and space (those who were there).

The invention of writing, ca 6000 BC, freed us of the constraint on time and space, thereby laying the basis for civilization. The consumer no longer needed to synchronize with the producer. A message could be read later (time constraint), or sent somewhere (space constraint). We still had a restriction on reach, in that making copies was arduous.

The invention of the printing press in China removed this last fundamental restriction. When coupled with a simpler written language several centuries later, this ushered in the current era of civilization, which we might call modernism.

The 19th century saw several new technologies that multiplied the power of previous communication methods. The telephone removed spacial constraints on communication, and radio and television removed constraints on reach. Today we view these technologies as quintessential of life in the 20th century. Yet their emphasis on few senders, combined with requirements to synchronize in both space and time, left much undone.

The Internet is the next, true stepping stone. It is important to note that Speech, Writing, and Printing could all do what the previous level of communication could (though perhaps with some loss of intonation). The telephone, radio, and television cannot and are, in retrospect, not true steps of improvement. The Internet can, in principle, do everything that the other five media can. And more.

And of course, the digital nature of the internet (of computing in general) is key: any information can be transported, and the format supports meta-information.

So the perception that Internet will have a fundamental impact is based on observing that it carries a bigger change than any previous step since the transition from speech to writing.

Today, in the heady glory of ubiquitous Internet, we’re left with the impression that there are no longer any restrictions communication. Of course, this is simply an effect of our limited imagination.