Mister Boyfriend blogged about the advent of microphotography a couple of days ago, and I was struck by an H.G. Wells quote he included. Wells is commenting on the possibilities of building a commons through microfiche, but it also sounds like the utopian dreams we have for the internet (and a bit of it‛s reality).

It . . . . was the beginning of a world brain . . . . a sort of cerebrum for humanity . . . . which will constitute a memory and also a perception of current reality for the entire human race. . . . . In these days of destruction, violence, and general insecurity, it is comforting to think that the brain of man-kind, the race brain, can exist in numerous identical replicas throughout the world. . . .

Also: The American Anthropometric Society and Walt Whitman's Brain