Mike, it is finally getting exciting to watch. I could never understand the negativity of many people toward the idea of a data web, but as you infer it was partially the ‘heavyweight’ theoretical approach that scared people off. Standards and a bit of clever programming can achieve a lot. The ‘semimantic’ approach – do some structure now where we can – is working and bringing some of the sw concepts into the mainstream. Yahoo / LinkedIn’s announcements are a hugely significant step.
The newish ‘hList’ microformat is possibly the start of something the cultural sector could use with its core content. I’d say its not a duck yet – I think we’re still in the pre-Cambrian here, but it has a backbone like a duck’s and its effectively able to waddle.

BTW single synapses can hold memory, and be a part of many – Eric Kandel got a Nobel for this recently – they’re the mechanism not the information- don’t underestimate them…