I have seen Steiner's cartoon with the caption “On the Internet, they don't know you're a dog” so many times now, reprinted in Internetrelated articles and slapped onto overhead projectors at conferences, that I know he must have struck the collective trigeminal nerve. A great hope for the Internet has always been that the virtual world would at least put a dent in discrimination and prejudice. Without cues to detect race, gender, or age we would not be able to indulge in racism, sexism, or ageism. Steiner's cartoon is both meaningful and hilarious because it adds “species-ism” to the list of -isms the Internet can eradicate.

Has the Internet created the environment we dreamed of, one that would be the foundation for a global community where cohesive and satisfying groups would emerge, free of intergroup tension and prejudice? In some ways, yes, but the reality falls far short of what earlier visionaries imagined. We enter the virtual world laden with the psychological baggage of a lifetime and certainly don't abandon our suitcases in the entrance lobby. Our attachment to groups, and the attitudes we tend to hold about our fellow ingroup members, are part of this luggage. So, too, are the prejudices and negative attitudes we often develop toward outgroups – those outsiders who disagree or compete with us, or are just different.