I see that Nick Carr thinks that blogging will drive more navel gazing, and obsession with popularity and comments will chew up useful time.

Hmm - does that mean that before the internet, all newspaper op/ed writers were simply navel gazing egotists? Has it occurred to Carr that the medium (TV/Newpaper/Net) is less relevant than the personality of the people involved? I think Carr has become over-invested in his "IT doesn't matter/the net is filled with crap" thesis, and is now trying to make everything he sees fit it. Kind of like the way Heinlein got obsessed with linking all of his stories toward the end...