Fear has been effectively used to manipulate and manage humans since before recorded history. It has marshalled armies, driven religious conversions, mass exodus, and chilling human sacrifice. How would you imagine so effective a tool might be abandoned by those who would control their fellow man, for their own gain? Every day we are pummelled with fear-driven political ads and "news" broadcasts. Even our parents use fear to manage their upstart offspring. Fear as a tool of control is, I fear, here to stay.

"... we love you people. We want to be your best friends. Now, how about this ..."

... the last refuge of belief, for the professed non-believer.

Yeah, I wouldn't really call that "engagement". I think in that case it was more of a marketing term than an actual aspect.

The best lecturer, when reduced to an image on a screen, is no better than the worst lecturer in person. Reality is immersive, while an image of a talking head is not. Film makers learned this long ago and implemented jump cuts, zooms, cameo close-ups, and the 15-second rule to maintain audience engagement. Until on-line courses learn from the past, they will not be harbingers of the future.

... "Does that angle make me look fat?"

A driver who is legally deemed drunk faces far more serious consequences, while creating a similar degree of hazard to the public. Furthermore, the drunk has impaired judgement, while the texter has no such excuse. Or, to put it another way, "Git a rope."

Not exactly; everything is Reconstruction.

... as the foundational premise of "Firefly" plays itself out.

I find Kdenlive's stability has improved dramatically over the years. It is quite full featured, though not all features are fully polished, for the most part they are at very least competitive. It certainly supports more input formats than Lightworks, which is the only competitor on Linux I'd put in the same class. Don't get me wrong, Blender is an excellent program, but with Kdenlive I can almost make do without the documentation. Blender, not so much.