I can be pretty cynical about the Internet. Well, not cynical exactly but I have never been suspend my disbelief about the capability of technology to overcome fundamentals of human nature that’s been ground into our genes and our society for a quarter of a million years, or whatever it is.

Then, some days, something happens that make you wonder whether there is really a chance that this Internet thing could be more than porn and people blathering on about how much they hate Jar Jar Binks.

Like today. Apple, god bless ‘em, today released iTunes 7.2, which not only introduces support for non-DRMed mp3s but they also introduce iTunes U – a series of freely available lectures. Right now I’m watching some guy from a US seminary doing an introductory lecture on Greek and have my finger wavering over the Amazon purchase button on the text book for the entire course… By the way, his favourite letter is zeta (or dzzzz) and his second favourite is eta. Good to know.

At the minute there aren’t many courses online, but this is fantastic.

I want a course in quantum physics for the mathematically challenged, and some greek and roman ancient history, a decent course on early 20^th century philosophy up to Satre, and… ooh the possibilities

Congratulations to Apple. Now come on universities of the world – educate me!