wither web 2.0

i had free passes to the web 2.0 expo this last week but guess what - i didn't go. Why you ask? Well, there were a number of different reasons but the main one was that it seemed to defeat the whole point. The whole idea of the web and web 2.0 is user involvement and community building. Web 2.0 is about people, not computers. So a face-to-face conference talking about technologies which are supposed to make distances and face-to-face meetings unnecessary, seemed unnecessary. Why have the conference at all? Maybe its because most attendees understand that its a facade. Web 2.0 is all about getting people talking to each other - but in no way can it replace the face-to-face contact. Or can it?