The market has no central processing unit - do your arguments against asynchronous parallel decentralized programs work equally well regarding the market? True, the market doesn't always lift its leg when I'd like it to or where I'd like it to, but it does seem to get along in a decephalic fashion.

I think the strength of Brook's method of robotics is that it allows for another option. Some functions of robotics might be much better to be reflexive: encounter object, lift leg. Some functions might be better if they followed the old model: encounter object, take a picture, analyze picture, take sample from object, analyse sample, etc. I forsee more of both in the future. A rocket lands on a distant world and a swarm of small, reflexive robots pour out. They find interesting things for the more 'smart' robots to look at. Or imagine a robot that rolls along mostly on reflex (nice when you have to suddenly pull away from a cliff edge) that can also do analysis of moving targets or disarm land mines or whatever.