Dennis Peterson vs .TV
"The longer I go without it, the more it seems odd to me that tens of millions of people shut up for several hours a day and listen to what a few hundred people have to say. Maybe the two-way web will change that situation..."

I've stopped TV almost completely, except for a few ER episodes I watch with my girlfriend every week. Reading, thinking and writing on the web is indeed more productive and rewarding for me. Though I try to involve my girlfriend more into my “web life”, I do most of my web activities alone or with people that live literally on other continents.

On the other hand, TV allows or even supports social interaction: you can share opinions, feelings or laughs when you watch a program with other people. I find it very challenging to include friends and family in my online life, beyond some occasional discussion on what I'm doing. What I'd need is a way to synchronously get them into my stuff. A PC has only one mouse and keyboard: try to co-surf, it's “remote control” warfare guaranteed. Sometime next year I'll buy a second PC to build the family LAN, but somehow I feel it won't be enough.

The two-way web needs to get out of the den and into the living room to live up to its full potential. Already, online-gaming addiction (link added 11/22/00) leads some people to divorce. Our increasing usage of the web will have to reconcile with our social life at some point. And when I say social life, I mean with the people you meet face to face, not the bots that pass their Turing tests (how do you feel about getting the two-way web out of the den?) that we interact with through e-mail, chat and blogs! Ah, you were tricked by the webcam shots, but don't let them fool you. There's a hidden faux webcam screenshot gallery at Corbis, but it's part of the Bill Gates conspiration you're being left out of.

Do you want the people you live with to consider your PC as an enemy?