Captured by the Net
Timothy Knight · 2012
This chapter focuses on the Internet bubble, which inflated throughout the late 1990s and peaked early in 2000. It was unique in several ways: first, unlike so many bubbles of centuries past, it involved not hundreds but instead millions of people. It was not confined to a small geographic region or the machinations of a crafty confidence man; instead, it revolved around what was, in fact, an important technological advancement whose promises were in many ways fulfilled later but whose early attempts were often misguided. The chapter further explains that a few of the world's largest and most successful company emerged from the bubble, but in the process, trillions of dollars of wealth was destroyed and millions of people were gravely disappointed at the difference between what was promised and what was actually realized. Many of these people suffered substantial financial losses along the way.