[MD] Dawkins a Materialist (is watching?)

[Case]

Mark,

I really have not idea what you thesis is here so disregard my comments.
I was interested in this side note:

Mark 20-01-7: I don't claim to be computer savvy, but i hear those who have
an idealist view of the net wish to make it as democratic as possible by
making the net itself the server with each computer acting as an element in
the whole server?
In this sense it would be more like a brain.
You may know more about this Case?
I don't even know if this is feasible, but if it were so, would not the  
Genie be out of the bottle?
And if this is so, the organisation of the World brain would be a Dynamic  
function with static elements?

[Case]
A big chunk of the internet was originally designed to insure its survival
in the event of nuclear war. The military wanted it so that if parts got
blown up other parts would function. The other great contributors to the
early network were academics who wanted a way to freely communicate.

As a result the system was made open. The network itself did little of
nothing to monitor or control what was passed across it. All security and
processing takes place at the end points. What makes the internet so much
fun is that it is open and decentralized.

So in a way it is more like a nervous system with lots of brains. It was at
its most open and democratic pre-Napster. Napster merely showed the public
an easy way to do what all the computer savvy folks had figured out how to
do long before. That is exchange information that you are not supposed to
exchange. There are ongoing efforts to close this system, to monitor traffic
and enforce order. The most obnoxious attempts involve attempts to stop
child pornography. No one supports kiddie porn types. Any sensible person
would like to see the problem surgically removed. But using this emotional
reaction certain powerful interests have been able to begin a legal process
for monitoring and invading the privacy of regular folks. I mean who would
be against modest restriction? Are you guilty of something? Are you a child
molester?

But so far so good, the internet exceeds my wildest expectations. In seconds
I can find out about anything. I can access nearly any book, movie, song or
program ever written. I am in awe. I first saw the possibility of this in
about 1982 on an Apple IIe with a 300 baud modem. I connected to a local
bulletin board and downloaded Apple Panic or some similar game and I
thought. This is a whole 'nuther ball game.

When William Gibson coined the term Cyberspace it was science fiction. Today
I live there. It is a beautiful thing. What you are asking for is already
here. You should be more concerned with preserving it. Lawrence Lessig has
written eloquently and passionately about this. His first book "Code" is
about the development of the internet. I have read his "Free Culture" and
"The Future of Ideas" I highly recommend them. Oddly enough an example of
the utter coolness of the net just happened. I suddenly realized that it was
easier to Google Lessig than to look over at my book shelf and scan for his
titles. What does than mean?