Name: The electricity metaphor for the web's future
Uploaded: 2007-04-09T23:43:00Z
Duration: 16 min 56 s
Description: The dot-com boom and bust is often compared to the Gold Rush. But Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says it's more like the early days of the electric industry.

The dot-com boom and bust is often compared to the Gold Rush. But Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says it's more like the early days of the electric industry.

The electricity metaphor for the web's future

Comparing the Internet boom to the Gold Rush misses a crucial point: technological revolutions don’t end when the initial excitement fades. Instead, they resemble the arrival of electricity, which began with clumsy, dangerous early appliances but eventually transformed every aspect of daily life. When the web grew 2,300 percent in 1994, it was just riding on the back of earlier infrastructure—much like how lighting paved the way for a world of electric devices. The real promise lies in ongoing innovation, not one-time windfalls.

The Internet’s Future Resembles Electricity, Not A Gold Rush

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TED Stage Talk

Jeff Bezos: The electricity metaphor for the web's future