Indeed; Jerry Pournelle somewhat famously predicted in _Byte_ that by 2000, anyone in the Western world would be able to ask a question and get the answer, if t

Indeed; Jerry Pournelle somewhat famously predicted in _Byte_ that by 2000, anyone in the Western world would be able to ask a question and get the answer, if the answer was known by anyone. We've pretty much had that since 1998 or so. :)