>What IS interesting in the last 10 years especially is that a new class
>of rich -- the rich from technology -- will exert a lot more control
>over the government of the next 100 years, and technology people have
>natural libertarian tendencies toward personal freedom, privacy, less
>regulation, less taxation, and less trade barriers.
I wouldn't go so far as to argue "next 100 years"--one might have made
similar statements about the eternal power of the networkers of the last turn
of the century, the railroad barons, and been wrong, as the telephone earls
came into power, only (now) to be threatened by the digital dukes. And do
note that they came in as ardent free-marketers but later found that there
were cushy livings and little stress under regulated regimes. Who knows, as
Scott McNeely's testosterone level slowly subsides, maybe he'll discover that
a guaranteed profit has its charms. TJ Rogers is another story.