The Economist.com | Coffee-houses is a lively piece detail the history of how coffee-houses’ functioned as centers of scientific, literary, business exchange, and political discussion/dissent. Much of this I knew ( Lloyd ‘s , the Royal Society, the literary role it still serves today), but interesting anyway. Altogether the article general dismisses the internet’s impact along such lines, I would still hold out hope for a similar contribution to society, whether from online science journals, wiki’s or blogs. I would also note that it took 100 years for Lloyd coffee house to become the Society of Lloyd’s, better known as Lloyd’s of London. Please allow us a few more years to change the social discourse, remake the economy and participate in overthrowing a government or two.