There are far more independent scholars than university scholars-some are unemployed, some too old or too young, some self-made without proper credentials, some are women who have chosen motherhood over academia, some are simply too different, too radical or too difficult to belong to a university faculty. Progress in civilization has depended, however, upon independent scholars. Think of Darwin, Freud, Marx, Einstein, Mendel, Ghandi, Edison. Practically all civilization-changing achievements are made by individuals not at universities at the time of their most important contributions. They worked alone or in small institutes such as Freud's Vienna institute or the Bauhaus.

Through a carefully designed and managed Internet program, however, it would be possible to enable these scholars to continue their individual pursuits, but gain productive and perhaps collaborative associations with others having similar interests, publish electronically, profit from critical reviews from other members of this new kind of scholarly community. Further, it may be possible to bridge these communities to university communities, to the enrichment of both. Mobilizing the intellectual power of independent scholars all over the world would be a most important contribution.