Thanks to Steve Alessi for a thought-provoking paper; we often become bogged down with our daily routines and immediate tasks, and don't stop to think about the long term.
Regarding his comments on individualism versus collectivism, I wholeheartedly agree that we need to conduct research and develop software that addresses how learners can interact with the support of technology. I recently conducted such a study (my dissertation) which structured the learning environment with individual/computer interaction, followed by human/human interaction. The results clearly suggested that while there are benefits to individualization, learner motivation and achievement gains may improve most when the amount of promotive time, or the time humans interact, increases. This is perhaps best stated by John Underwood, who said that it may very well turn out that the biggest advantage to computer assisted instruction is a side effect--the dialog that occurs in front of the screen rather than on it.
Although Steve condones such research, his predictions about the future may prevent it from taking place on a larger scale. The reason increased human/human interaction is perhaps more beneficial is that the level of interactivity (whatever this term means) that can be achieved between human and machine is still nowhere near the level that can be achieved by two humans. But if technological advances move us closer to achieving such levels of interaction, then we may, unfortunately, see a decrease in human to human cooperation and learning.