+Thomas Clothier I know. 9/11, 2 (meaningless) wars, the end of the long boom. It's still hard to get a handle on it. Maybe it's still too close to sum up in a few pithy sentences.

FB? Google? Smartphones?

Although the 80s were the time taste forgot, I well remember that in 1980 personal electronics were rare and by 1990 they were ubiquitous. VCR, CD, Cellphones, Microwave ovens, PCs. Compare that with 2000 to 2010. ISTM that everything that was ubiquitous by 2010 was already available in some form in 2000. In which case the oughties were just working out the details and making it mainstream.

The 90s were about anything was possible. The Oughts were about reality kicking the 90s to the curb.

So much has happened, but no doubt the speed of life and the net has made it seem as if time is passing faster than ever before. Terrorism, a lot of war, huge economic shifts, and of course the rise of the Internet are what first come to my mind. Tough times for many, but I pray we're experiencing much of this strife in order to correct course if not socially at least personally. Rock on my friend and thanks for getting so many of us to thinking!!!

The 80s phoned. They want their music back.

+Julian Bond I think you're right about the music. lol. The other night I was with some friends who are very into hip hop and I swore I heard some 80's alternative mixed in there?

How about this name for the 'oughties': 'The big letdown, The big regroup'

There was a lot of anticipation heading into Y2K....remember the Matrix, world music culture was hitting it big in all the big cities everywhere....also there was a sense that something really BIG was about to happen and people were working for it....I remember riding a bus to work in San Francisco in 1999 and chatting up a young lady sitting next to me...I asked her what she did....she answered: 'I work for an Internet Startup' and then paused and looked at me with a glance I understood only too well and said: 'It's intense.' That was the overall mood in SF. Later I moved to Freiburg in Germany. This is a little town on the edge of the Black Forest. You know what, it was the same there too....

By 2000, the I-Net was already mainstream and it was global...it was new and cool in 97 and by 2000 it was just cool, no longer new.....

Then came the age of the bitter realization....the world kept happening after 2000 and the internet didn't solve our fundamental problems....thus the big let down. 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, collapsing economic bubbles were all directly or indirectly related to our psychological bubble that popped as soon as Al Gore conceded the presidential election to W....

Another revolution was bubbling under the surface....it had more to do with connection than with content. It was about people meeting people. It was about a hyper customizable experience for individuals and deeper connections with others than ever. This was happening in small groups all over the place. And its online equivalent was the social media push....this was the regrouping. It came with Myspace then Facebook/twitter and Google...the socialization of the internet,

the creation of all kinds of new conversations. That has proven to be massive....

It already had started in the oughties with craigslist and chat services but it really clicked and kicked in this decade....That is the big regroup....ultimately it will also disappoint as it does not address our most fundamental longings....still it will add much richness of experience and set the stage for the next moment....

I think the teens will be something about integrating this socialization and mobilization into our 3 dimensional and also wordless lives...our lives beyond verbal story will be more and more paramount and present online. More sharing through images and videos....best of all, we will seek and find each other in highly targeted comings together of people...not merely online but in presence, mano a mano, person to person....this is already happening, but it will be a massive phenomenon in the next 10 years.

If you read this epic post....thanks....your thoughts please!

good idea, +Michael Robinson

+Alan Steinborn Epic. Thank you.