Throughout recent history, the Internet has proved to be a very powerful and useful communications medium. With the continued expansion of computer and communications technology, the Internet will prove to be even more valuable in the future than ever before imagined. With benefits ranging from better business as a result of better and more equal advertising to greater understanding between people and peoples, the whole global spectrum will change. Those who choose to ignore the changing ways of obtaining information will become less educated than those who accept them. "For the first time in history, almost every recipient of information has the potential to become a publisher of information." (Sussman)

Despite its popularity, most users of the Internet know little about its origin. The Internet began due to the funding of Operations Research (O.R.) by the Defense Department. The purpose of O.R. is to apply "scientific modeling principles to military planning" (Diamond/Bates). Research into the possibility of a computer communications network began in the 1950's as a result of the Cold War. Computer technology was already in existence at that time, but the government wanted some way for its military strategy machines to be able to communicate in the event of an attack. . "Nothing like it had ever been done before. In fact, most computer time-sharing then involved transportation rather than communication." (Diamond/Bates) The ARPA(Advanced Research Projects Agency, an O.R.) "sought a communications solution. Their goal was to send signals from computer terminals in the battlefield to a computer at a base or headquarters. For this to work, they would have to build some sort of stable network which would be translated "from wire to radio to satellite and back" (Diamond/Bates). The solution, which came from Paul Baron, a researcher on an Air Force contract, "was a network that could route around damage and continue to communicate" (Diamond/Bates). This was accomplished through a process called packet switching which evolved into the present system known as TCP/IP. TCP/IP, the main communication language of the Internet, stands for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. This is a system which converts data into packet streams, transports the packets across different nodes and networks, and eventually reassembles them at their destination. (Sussman)

Now that the Internet has become an established, reputable, and commonly used form of communicating, many are finding that using it is almost a necessity. "The day is coming very fast when every cop will be issued a badge, a gun, and a laptop." (Sussman) The constantly growing Internet will affect more than just computer nerds... everyone will be affected. "New technologies will make customization more affordable for the average citizen..." (Dent 17). The information available on the Internet, and the need for the Internet, is causing large corporations to make major strategic moves. The quality of a company’s presence on the web is only limited by the person who creates the web page and anyone can do it. The affordability and accessibility of the Internet is enabling the small businessperson with the equality to be as marketable as his or her creativity and ambitions allow.

Peter Plantec, author of the trueSpace2 Bible and 3D animation specialist says that "When 3D hits the masses it will result in an explosion of really bad material. From that heaving pile of stench will arise a few triumphant new voices. Voices from the ghettos, from the countryside, from smaller cities across the land. Most of them would not have stood a chance of discovery five years ago." This is because the technology and software is becoming increasingly more affordable, many will have the opportunity to produce 3D animation and art work. The increased use of 3D rendering techniques in movies, such as Toy Story, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park, show how important of a production tool computers are becoming. The development of 3D simulations, models, and landscapes which are interactive over the Internet will be one of the many new niches which will offer opportunity to entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, and businesses alike.

Harry Dent, noted economic forcaster and author of The Great Boom Ahead, predicts that businesses will see their profit margins rise due to lower costs and the "progress of new technologies, coupled with a corresponding rise in consumer demand". These business successes will be contributed to, more specifically, by the ability that the Internet offers to market to small specific audiences. Since many web pages have a specific or thematic purpose, products and services can now be advertised with more assurance that they will reach their target audience. Dent continues by saying that "we will see a much more humane, creative workplace and society precisely because computers will become nearly invisible while they eliminate most of the bureaucracy and rout work that has largely taken the human element out of life at the extreme end of the Industrial Age". No one knows exactly what the future is going to bring but it is becoming more and more evident every day that the lives of people will be directly interdependent with technology, and especially that of communications technology, which is basically what the Internet is.

Besides the original purpose of the Internet, extraneous benefits will be enough to ensure its success. The most popular feature of the Internet is communication; the ability to keep in touch with friends and make new ones via e-mail, chat rooms, and newsgroup postings. In this respect, the Internet is proving to be a place where people can find a society where they fit in. "People whose physical handicaps make it difficult to form new friendships find that virtual communities treat them as they always wanted to be treated." "It is a way to meet people." (Barlow) This sense of community, which many users of the Internet have, is not limited to the chat rooms. The Internet resembles a community because it has every aspect of a real community except physical human contact. Noted writer and Internet guru, John Barlow, says that he has a much richer appreciation of physical reality for having spent so much time in virtuality. The citizens of the virtual communities on the Internet have helped him through hard times in his life. He has received helpful information from friends who he may never meet in person and he has empathized with the strife of other parents who he has met in the parent support chat rooms. "If home is where the heart is, then there is already some part of home to be found in cyberspace." "When we are all together in cyberspace we will see what the human spirit, and the basic desire to connect, can create there" (Barlow).

Much more than emotions are being connected through the Internet. Conventions like e-mail are old hat by now, but new services are continually being invented which will one day let us do all transactions at an Internet terminal. Digital Cash, also known as e-cash, offers "the benefits of anonymous legal tender with the speed and convenience of on-line commerce". (Sussman) What this means is that a new lifestyle has the possibility to evolve. People will no longer have to commute to work, technology will change how, where, and when we work, and how and where we live. These new technologies are making it possible to redefine the workplace. The office can now be anywhere. Society, as a whole, will become more creative because computers will take over all of the bureaucratic rout work, and day care will become more or less a thing of the past because "parents can work at home while their children play in another room" (Willis). (Dent 4)

Despite the strong potential for a seemingly utopian society due to the Internet, there are many flaws and hurdles which must be overcome before any of this can be accomplished. Just like in all large communities, the Internet has its share of crime and maintenance. White collar and high tech crime is currently at large on the Internet, and it ranges everywhere from software piracy to credit card fraud, to industrial espionage. "`This is a new world for law enforcement,’ says Dan Duncan, a FLETC legal division senior instructor, because `cops have always followed a paper trail, and now there may not be one’." (Sussman) Besides crime, the maintenance of the Internet is a big problem. That is to say that presently it is too slow and too unstable. All too often an Internet surfer, one who browses the web or other archives and files, receives the error message: "could not locate host". Much of this has to do with the physical make-up of the Internet. Once the limitations of a telephone modem are no longer placed on the people, and once fiber optic and coax cable, and satellite communications are available to the masses, this will no longer be a problem. "With the advent of fiber optic [cables], it is conceivable that a single transmission medium could become the conduit for newspapers, electronic mail, local and network broadcasting, video rentals, cable television, and a host of other information services." (Sussman)

The Internet will truly change the world... it is the most prolific odyssey of a reasoning society. As it continues to grow, the whole world will grow with it, changing the established definition of many aspects of society, including that of the Internet itself.