Sometimes I like to find negative points in things.

[Mahaguru]

Such as any established system or technology. I try to imagine what people would have said before it was introduced as to why this would never work.

For example:

Modern road transportation:

- Yeah sure, as if any country would be rich enough to invest this heavily in building roads. We are already at our maximum capacity.
- Gimme my horse any day, it doesn't need no stinking dead mythical creature buried under the land and turned into magic energy potion.
- Ok, well let's analyze this technically. You are saying entire cities will be redesigned to accomodate these so called motor pathways, and an entire infrastrucutre will be setup to support it? I can see this maybe working in cities, but what about outside the cities? You would still need horses.
- Dude... way too many ass hats. Whats keeping people from just driving the wrong way just for fun? OMG, and can you imagine drunk driver?
- Maybe this might work in some countries, but do you really expect poor third world countries to use this?

Internet:

- So average people will use their computers to connect to other computers? Have you seen how intelligent the average person is, yeah I am sure your mom would do it, she can barely use the VCR
- Don't see this happening dude. It will probably become another utility and be setup as a monopoly. Govt regulation will just kill it.
- What's keeping people from using this to harass people?

Cell Phones:

- Will never work. Do you honestly think people will want to look like geeks carrying around a phone and answering it?
- OH HELL NO. We don't need no more phones ringing off.
- So this magical cell phone device is supposed to work both inside and outside of buildings?
- Schools will probably ban it out right, imagine the cheating.


I know I am a little off.

 

[Auric]

In general, your points stem from a rich industrialized bias though.

From that POV it is easy to underestimate the importance of roads -not even necessarily modern with horseless autocarriages but even ancient Roman roads, for instance. Ditto mobile telephones particularly where relatively little wired infrastructure even developed such as in India. The internets isn't about computars but rather communication and information enabled by them. In that light, much of the benefit could have been had a hundred years earlier or whenever if there was a universally available and accessable telegraph system or such (can you imagine: a telegraph in every home!).