I have been enjoying this Harvey Mudd symposium on philosophy and the Net all day, but it has just taken a sharp turn for the stupid. Never mind porn, child-snatching, identity theft, chat addiction, terrorist steganography and all that other penny-ante stuff: One philosopher on the panel just opined that the Net is responsible for undermining unconditional commitment and, by extension, (Christian) religious faith. Hello? Sir? Are you familiar with modern capitalism? (No, of course not, you’re a professor in the UC system.) After 150 years of employment-necessitated rootlessness and a generation of life in the post-corporate-loyalty era, I think anyone in the world beyond tenure could tell you exactly what killed unconditional commitment. I’m so glad these people have conspired to remind me why I haven’t gone back for my Ph.D yet…