Kids are kept away from predators now that they play on a PlayStation instead of in the park, and teenagers are significantly less prone to physical violence from their peers by virtue of living on MySpace.com and communicating only by instant and text messaging.

Natural resources will not be depleted as people refrain from traveling and instead visit virtually. Aunt Millie will be so delighted to get a video blog instead of having to feed the whole family on her birthday.

At the end of the day, we must all learn to embrace and love the new era of Web 2.0, and not just because of all the cool new gizmos, improved communications and media. More importantly, Web 2.0 reminds us that there is life after the dot-com crash. After a long period of recovery, we finally have permission to be hopeful again -- and maybe even take up day trading?

Yes, hope springs eternal, and Web 2.0 makes us feel young all over again.

Paul Lamb is a consultant, writer and technology activist. You can never reach him in the real world, only at pauljlamb@gmail.com or on www.technivist.org.