As the children become financially independent of the family, the emphasis on family financial security will shift from protection to saving for the retirement years.
Other innovations of the late fourth millennium include the wheel, probably developed first as a more efficient way of making pottery and then transferred to transport.
Rosenthal, who spoke at a breakfast session at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference Saturday morning in Aspen, says ning's goal was to convert 3% to 5% of its users — a goal it passed in two days.
A computer-smashing, neo-Luddite backlash may seem unlikely—but why not divert some of the energy from the high-flying tech industry to addressing social problems?
While some activists are holding firm to the importance of the open-air style of protests, Occupy groups in other cities have already moved ahead with plans to move from the streets to the indoors.