Excellent discussion Richard. It all boils down to search dynamics, where algorithms amplify and reify crowding around ugly rabbit holes. I really like your collective monkey mind notion, especially how the net extracts all the worse stuff we mostly suppress, collects and fortifies them and then projects them across our world. As aside, it reminds me a tale of a volcanic eruption, and how the sea subsides moments before the huge tidal wave. All the monkeys came down and were gathering trinkets across the exposed ocean floor and deepened new beach, and then are swiftly drown. The Internet is a elaborate sewer system that backups and drowns us all. The collective monkey mind is such a fertile ground for fascism to flourish, note: https://medium.com/@daneke/the-fanatical-fascist-fungus-is-upon-us-please-america-wake-up-and-smell-the-jackboot-polish-b81f695a472f