Dot Com to Dot Bomb!

In Fry's series of lectures on the dot com boom and bust, he used dinosaurs to represent the companies that were involved. This boom and bust lasted around 1997 to 2001. Companies well known to us now including aol, cisco, and yahoo were represented in dinosaur form. Dinosaurs were chosen to represent the companies because of the extinction and its large nature. 

During the boom there was an increased usage of the web, ultimately shortening the gap in the digital divide. Due to the growing demand for internet use, investors saw this as an opportunity and took the bull by the horns. They invested in any website they could get their hands on, without the usual amount of logic behind put into investing. Internet companies were ecstatic on the amount of money being made, so they in turn spent vast amounts of money into the company in order for it to 'grow'. Shortly after the money being spent couldn't withhold throughout time, because there was no depth in the invested choices. The companies that did last the dot com bust took great losses.

I believe that in a way this is just like gambling. When you win a small bet you made, it is likely that you gain a false sense of confidence so it makes you want to bet again, and again. If you’re feeling lucky, or have a hunch then you play all bets, hoping to make the most money. Investing is obviously a lot more complex than gambling, there is more studying and research involved with projected investing and such.