At its best and worst, all the Internet can do is connect us to information on the World Wide Web. (People still get these two things confused - consider the Internet as the roads and highways and the Web as towns and cities.) That being said, all the web does is reflect us as people - much as art imitates life. Also the same as art, the web can influence us - should we choose to let it, as individuals. Before the web came along, pornography and gambling were still huge industries, rivalling any other industry. Has that really changed? Before the web came along, people were gathering together for peaceful purposes with ideals to make the world better. Has that changed? Yes, I suppose it has. If anything, it happens faster and includes more people. Does the amount of dross on the web outweigh the good? Let's look at television for that answer - for every ten channels of garbage, there is one good one. Something like a CLT or Access or APTN or TVOntario. All uf us can look back on these channels for moment of enlightenment or education. Remember Readalong? Remember Man Alive? The web is no different. There are the WebMD's WikiPedia's and other great sites that do make life that little bit better. Just stay out of the gutter and you'll be alright.