I went back to the CERN website poking into electronic corners and opening digital closets looking for paintings.

I found one – I don’t remember what it was – and I clicked on the link. One line at a time, Mosaic and the World Wide Web worked their magic and a painting by a modern master slowly appeared on my screen.

When it finished I saw where it was located: The Dallas Museum of Art.

At that moment I understood that the World Wide Web meant distance – distance between two points across the surface of the Earth – had lost its meaning.

My computer had sent a signal from Plano, Texas to Geneva, Switzerland; on to Dallas (about 20 miles from where I was sitting) back to Geneva, ending in Plano.