Part of the Zeitgeist About 6 months ago, a researcher from AT&T Labs, Andrew Odlyzko, wrote a dazzling series of no-hype, common-sense papers about, among other things, how point-to-point communication (telephone) has always been more important than broadcast communication (radio).

This, of course, has important repercussions for Internet use. I wrote Andrew at the time, letting him now how insightful I found his work.

About two months later, he appeared in the Economist.

And today, four months after that, we fine two VC blowhards spouting all of Andrew's ideas without crediting him. Check out Tom Watson and Jason Chervokas saying obvious things about people's behavior, taken from Andrew, without so much as a by your leave. Nice to know things have changed in 2001.