I'm just reading the article in the April 2002 issue of Wired on Oliver Sacks. One part of the article talks about Sacks' communications with a Russine neuropsychologist named Luria via snail mail.  My first thought was how inefficient one to one snail mail correspondence is for advancing knowledge; blogging works much better.  Its hard for me to remember my pre-Internet life (I started using the 'net in 1986) and how utterly disconnected I must have been.