Throughout history;?

Question

Human society has rarely involved a discussion of more than 100 people at the same time.

With the internet, this figure has grown to an "astronomical" figure, with thousands of people explaining their opinions on blogs, forums, whatever you would call Yahoo! Answers, Myspace, etc, etc.

Do you think that Humanity was prepared for this massive difference in social interaction?

Answer 1

I certainly don't, and we won't be prepared until we learn some pretty basic rules that we seem to have 'forgotten' or think are beneath us. Some people think that courtesy and respect are for suckers, certainly not them. With such attitudes, real discourse devolves into a shouting match and a pack baying for the blood of the cynical contributors, the discussion usually doesn't go very far. Plus, we seem to think that we don't have to be prepared, eg. reading a book on the subject, and that our opinions are just as valid as those who know the subject extremely well. What's up with that? Being faceless and anonymous gets rid of any normal inhibitions that we might feel, as well. This can be a good thing and it could be a bad thing.

Answer 2

I think it is so useful to be able to receive this massive difference in social interaction.

Why you underestimate humanity?!