The web could replace the law

There's some interesting discussion over at the BBC's Digital Revolution blog this week. They're discussing the effect the web is having on our brains. Whilst none of us actually believe we're heading towards a matrix-like future with jellied bodies and our brains plugged into the hive mind, the future might be closer than we thought.

"@oxfordyorick offered some very interesting insight... that our increased networking may be leading to a not altogether beneficial hegemony:

'the odd result that extensive Facebook exposure seems to be contracting the list of first names used for newborns: it is as if linking to larger intimate groups, and seeing what names they use, is causing a higher degree of mutual name-copying and the proportion of first names occupied by the top ten, names, say is shrinking in the English speaking world. This effect, if transferred to the realm of ideas, could be one we might not like: peer pressure to conform might grow in a way that would not need to be enforced by any Government or law.' "

So the web could replace government? That's too scary for Monday. To be re-visited.