Clifford Stoll's curmudgeonly 'Why the Internet Will Fail' essay, 1995 | Boing Boing

Clifford Stoll's curmudgeonly 'Why the Internet Will Fail' essay, 1995 | Boing Boing: The%20truth%20is%20no%20online%20database%20will%20replace%20your%20daily%20newspaper%2C%20no%20CD-ROM%20can%20take%20the%20place%20of%20a%20competent%20teacher%20and%20no%20computer%20network%20will%20change%20the%20way%20government%20works%20%u2026%0A%0AWhat%20the%20Internet%20hucksters%20won%27t%20tell%20you%20is%20that%20the%20Internet%20is%20one%20big%20ocean%20of%20unedited%20data%2C%20without%20any%20pretense%20of%20completeness.%20Lacking%20editors%2C%20reviewers%20or%20critics%2C%20the%20Internet%20has%20become%20a%20wasteland%20of%20unfiltered%20data.%20You%20don%27t%20know%20what%20to%20ignore%20and%20what%27s%20worth%20reading.%20Logged%20onto%20the%20World%20Wide%20Web%2C%20I%20hunt%20for%20the%20date%20of%20the%20Battle%20of%20Trafalgar.%20Hundreds%20of%20files%20show%20up%2C%20and%20it%20takes%2015%20minutes%20to%20unravel%20them%u2014one%27s%20a%20biography%20written%20by%20an%20eighth%20grader%2C%20the%20second%20is%20a%20computer%20game%20that%20doesn%27t%20work%20and%20the%20third%20is%20an%20image%20of%20a%20London%20monument.%20None%20answers%20my%20question%2C%20and%20my%20search%20is%20periodically%20interrupted%20by%20messages%20like%2C%20%22Too%20many%20connections%2C%20try%20again%20later.%22%20%u2026.%0A%0AEven%20if%20there%20were%20a%20trustworthy%20way%20to%20send%20money%20over%20the%20Internet-which%20there%20isn%27t-the%20network%20is%20missing%20a%20most%20essential%20ingredient%20of%20capitalism%3A%20salespeople.%0A%0A