What redistribution of power? I can't believe Kelly, Rushkoff, Rossetto and Barlow don't know better. I can't believe they don't understand that the electronic culture in which they operate is still largely run by white men (and written about by them; see "Scenarios: the Future of the Future," published by Wired in October 1995) and still dominated by big corporations such as ATT, Microsoft and Sony.

Inside this new world, the one that begins where our fingertips touch the keyboard and ends at a web site advertising Chrysler's newest models or in a meandering BBS discussion about the movie "Kids," we find the old life and the old communities. When people put on their electronic masks--disguising gender, race, physical attributes--mostly they play themselves. When corporations go on-line and invite us to interact, they are selling the same products they sell on billboards, TV commercials and newspaper coupons.