I'm no Techno-Utopian but it seems clear, to me, the global linkages allowed by the Internet will have profound consequences, some of which we can't even begin to imagine.  As an example, what happens to Big-Box Brick-and-Mortar Stores when customers routinely purchase commodity consumer consumables over the internet?  What happens to continual consumption (purchase) of consumer durables after somebody figures out they can make a bloody fortune by junking planned obsolesce and receive long-term income from parts and service?  

A major change in Communications must lead to other major changes, across the board.  See what happened after the invention of the moveable type, as an obvious 'bit of proof.'  

Granted TPTB, who became TPTB under the previous circumstances, are going to do everything they can to prevent a phase transition.  However under foreseeable meta-changes, e.g., Global Warming, I think, in the end, there is bugger-all they can do about it.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre