But while it's important to recognize the power of the "latest thing," it's disastrous to allow the desire for that power to blind the inevitability of its flaws. What happened in American society over the last few years is that the staggering success of Internet made navigating Wall Street look and feel deceptively easy. Suddenly, everyone could tap into the Dream; fiscal novices flocked without pause into the esoteric world of business. And when it was good, it was very, very good.

But now that the future may not be "very good", the majority of the American population that became involved in the stock market over the last half-decade just doesn't seem to know what to do. Their reach for wealth seems to have greatly exceeded their grasp on the complexities of the system; one survey found that the average American expected the market to grow an average of 19 percent for the next ten years. This figure is totally irrational for a long-term prediction, and reflects the kind of ignorance that led people to continue to transfer funds to the technology sector long after it became hopelessly overvalued. It's so simple, then, to blame that sector as a sort of disembodied entity rather than understanding that this sort of correction was ultimately inevitable--that although it was impossible to prevent this mini-crash, it could have been prepared for if people took a step back from "getting rich quick" and looked at the ludicrousness of pulling money out of thin air.

For all I know, the stock market is rallying as you read this, and those graduating seniors at the business school who contracted to receive half their salaries in options where the strike price was set a month ago will not be in the same state of panic as they were this past weekend. More likely, however, Friday's "bloodbath" was the first signal that the economic boom we've experienced will begin to reverse itself somewhat--and that we need to accept the fact that even the roads in cyberspace aren't paved with gold.

Alixandra E. Smith '02 is a government concentrator in Kirkland House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.