What is progress?

A nutshell guide in 6 easy steps

1. A small group of smart people think up something that makes possible unheard-of feats, or at least makes heard-of feats much easier
2. Larger groups of smart people start using it
3. As the device or method in question spreads, understanding the use of it becomes a token of social status, and everybody wants it
4. Commercial companies make lots of cash training people, or dumbing down the invention, or both
5. The innovation becomes fool-proof enough to be useless to experts, negating its original purpose
6. Go to 1

Computing is in stage 5 right now, the internet in stage 4.