I know what you mean about reading all this stuff.... I look at my teenage nieces- who grew up with the 'net- with a little bit of wonderment.... they really can't envision a world where info is only a few clicks away.... let alone a world of yellow notepads, vacuum-tube powered console radios ( the cutting edge of technology when I was a kid! ) and waiting weeks or months or years to merely get your opinions published. If ever!
I really do think the web will change the world in a quantuum leap of information available, like moveable type did, but much more profoundly.