"What corporations really want is interactive cable TV --
with the interactivity restricted to on-line shopping, video games and pay-to-view
movies -- with the telephone thrown in as a give-away because it requires almost
no space on the cable. The Infobahn, by this definition, is little more than a
catalogue of products, services, information and entertainment that can be ordered,
purchased, and consumed on-line. Mr. Gore's Superhighway is really an electronic
"Golden Mile" -- to be cruised like any suburban shopping strip for entertainment,
sex, fun, and consumables.
In reality the Superhighway simply projects existing aspects of western social and cultural behavior onto the new electronic communications systems. Its attraction as a metaphor is that it suggests that everything will be just like now but much better; more convenient, more comfortable - more home entertainment, easier shopping, less commuting."
-- Robert Adrian, from Infobahn Blues