If you weren't alive and sentient during the time this was written, it's pretty easy to dismiss it as absurd. I mean, obviously this guy was a total fool, righ

If you weren't alive and sentient during the time this was written, it's pretty easy to dismiss it as absurd. I mean, obviously this guy was a total fool, right? He didn't see the overwhelming tidal wave of change coming at him! What a moron! He should've looked past the fact that nobody knew what the internet was, and that only a few people even had modems. Or that it was so difficult for the average person to connect to "the net" that the idea of a coffeehouse full of dedicated "internet computers" that you rented by the hour seemed like a great business plan. What are you dismissing as absurd right now? Maybe it's a lame portable music player that seems small and primitive. Maybe it's a me-too social network for Harvard undergrads. Maybe it's a website where you rent out your air mattress to strangers. In other words: we're all living in a big glass house. Easy with the stones.