"Encouragement of knowledge before intelligence"
I would say "encouragement of information without discernment".
Collectives tend to suppress information exchange. The internet by its very nature is a wide open information exchange, and with satellite communication, it makes it impossible to completely restrict access to it. Though the internet does not encourage discernment, it doesn't actively restrain it. People can choose to consider carefully what they read or not.
Yes, I agree. Intelligence requires organizing information, but the internet encourages information overload.
Hence, quantity before quality.
Exchange and discernment apply to information givers as well. Collectives exercise peer pressure in order to intimidate intelligent people to give up information in exchange for nothing.
Socialism operates on the same basis. It aims to enslave supply to demand.
The watchword of the internet is "unique user". Companies make products for internet interface that are highly customizable. Rather than a generic template for everyone, anyone can choose from a bewildering array of looks and feels, and can turn on and off any source of information they choose. Individuality, not collectivism, is most highly prized.
Well it's the "conformity by not conforming" phenomenon. You know, people are always trying to be postmodern in order to show off the latest styles, but it really just operates according to chaos, and expects people to conform with average chaos in order to fit in.
A good example of this is watching break dancing, parkour, drift racing, or skateboarding videos. They're exciting, but there are also certain norms expected to be upheld. They're not entirely customized. There are certain templates to the activities which are simply combined with random variations here and there.
Websites operate the same way. They can be deconstructed down to templates, and then just have splattered fashion on top. Heck, some people try to deliberately exercise this postmodernism in order to be hypocritical and show a willingness to bite the intellectual hand which feeds. For example, websites depend on code, but graphic designers don't engage code directly. However, graphic designers can make careers for themselves by building websites which discourage people from discovering how code works. Instead, customers can become spoiled brats.
I would disagree with your statement of the internet as "Encouragement of fashion before function". Fashion, clearly, is vital to the experience of the unique user, but if a product or service does not function as expected, a consumer will change brand loyalties quickly.
I agree, but customers usually have very low functional expectations. Everything's about "keep it simple, stupid".