Not just for geeks. This article: World of Ends: What the Internet Is and How to Stop Mistaking It for Something Else. is an excellent philosophical treatise on the Internet, and must-reading for anyone who wants to understand what the world wide web really is.

In a nutshell:

1. The Internet isn't complicated
2. The Internet isn't a thing. It's an agreement.
3. The Internet is stupid.

"The Internet... is stupid. On purpose. Its designers made sure the biggest, most inclusive network of them all was dumb as a box of rocks."

4. Adding value to the Internet lowers its value.
5. All the Internet's value grows on its edges.
6. Money moves to the suburbs.
7. The end of the world? Nah, the world of ends.
8. The Internet?s three virtues:
     a. No one owns it
     b. Everyone can use it
     c. Anyone can improve it
9. If the Internet is so simple, why have so many been so boneheaded about it?
10. Some mistakes we can stop making already

The entire article is excellent and, from my perspective, extremely useful. In the "mistakes we can stop making already" section there's this commentary:

The companies whose value came from distributing content in ways the market no longer wants ? can you hear us Recording Industry? ? can stop thinking that bits are like really lightweight atoms. You are never going to prevent us from copying the bits we want. Instead, why not give us some reasons to prefer buying music from you?

It's nice to see companies like Apple waking up to this with iTunes. Speaking of which, here's a funny and cogent article from the Wall Street Journal today: My Jones Began With Tom - I couldn't take just one byte from Apple's iTunes.