The most bemusing aspect imo is the recognition of how very new this whole thing is. Someone above referred to the internet of the early 80s - how very recent that is!- and we all know that an individual personal computer is considered ancient long before its 5th birthday- just where are we going with this? What will be the next refinement?

In 10 years- in 5 years- what will we doing in the comfort of our own homes?

I once read a scifi story where the normal thing was to stay home and communicate with everyone, including friends, via wall-tv. Prior to living together, two lovers had only had virtual meetings. (And of course, the term 'virtual reality' had not yet been coined.)