[Expectant_Philosopher (OP)]

Research and idea formation depend on information.  The more references from as many multiple disciplines as possible allows the genius in us to connect ideas to synthesize them to coalesce them into groundbreaking discoveries.  However limiting the entire available set of information by some arbitrary political or religious standard will ultimately lead the society that imposed the limits not to find the answers it needs to excel.  These societies will certainly be able to operate within their limited frame of reference, but the smaller number of successes at groundbreaking innovation will give that society a competitive disadvantage as other societies pull further and further ahead.  To limit the Internet, to censure it denies their thinkers amongst their general populace the ability to see all the connected ideas limiting their success at synthesizing solutions to problems from the available set of information.  I have often wondered how European countries could have advanced so much faster than ancient civilizations that themselves were the foundations of European technology.  Even in Europe it wasn't until they threw off the restrictive political and religious shackles did they fast forward in thought development and technologic advance.  And America a microcosm of that societal change grew from an insignificant colony to one of the most powerful nations on the planet.  The truly sad part of this is that those restrictive societies, but for comparison to the unrestricted successful competitor societies, will never realize the problem, they for political or religious ideals would rather die than admit they were wrong. 

[alancalverd]

The British economy was at its peak, both in terms of innovation and industrial profitability, before 1970. People invented and made stuff instead of sitting in front of computers and arguing with each other. Fax was a Good Thing as it allowed us to send drawings quicker than by post, but it all went downhill once we started communicating instead of doing.

I admire Churchill's memo to Montgomery: "Please let me have, on half a sheet of paper, your plan for invading Italy." That's the way to get things done! The entire map of the world was redrawn, politics revolutionised, jet engines, radar, antibiotics, plastics, electronics....even the computer, were invented by hand-drawn pictures and carbon-paper typescript. The structure of DNA was unravelled by linear mathematics, not numbercrunching.

Is it merely coincidence that the world is now sliding back to the dark ages and islamic fascism, assisted by the internet?