I think the parent post's main point is not one conceived in arrogance but simply stating that none of the math you learned in your CS degree support these sorts of endeavors.

Learning any specific technology isn't hard for anyone who was apt enough to get a CS degree but would not your time have been better spent in college learning advanced software development methodologies, common solutions to complex security concerns in distributed web systems, or learning how to leverage a database server to its full extent? None of this requires any sort of mathematical analysis - it requires logic. A way of thinking to devise solutions to things that are not trivial. If you were exposed to the basics of MVC you can start out by devising your own solution - improving on the solution rather than learning it.

I mean really it's kind of like seeing a Math major become an accountant except there's no Accounting major equivalent in most schools like "Software Engineering". Students usually have to choose from CS or some sort of extremely business heavy IT track (coincidentally IT is where all the girls interested in technology went. Connection? Who knows...)

"Programming skill" is, however, far more important to most Computer Science students who aren't going to pursue a job in research or academia. I can't remember the last time I had to perform any sort of algorithmic analysis beyond knowing intrinsically what is an efficient and inefficient solution to a problem.

Compared to yours, my Masters in CS for professionals is focused on programming and software development methodologies. CS is a diverse field and there are many, many routes one can take from the base knowledge with the first big fork being if you want to follow the theoretical path or the practical path. Both are valid and important and the base education should reflect a combination of both fields before students can specialize.

To be honest if I had learned nothing but theory for two-three years when starting my CS undergrad I would have switched majors. But i didn't since I had practical experiences as well as theoretical and I love my software dev job as a result.

I was going to post a cynical comment about how PCs and smart devices are different tools for different purposes but then I realized that this really does speak volumes about how far the usability of such portable devices has come since 2000 when the only people with "smart" devices were those with blackberries to check work email.

Funny the shift seemed to start when Apple made them "cool" to wave around as a status symbol.

I'm not sure what fantasy world you're living in but in in a capitalist economy not buying things is harmful to the producers of said content. Everyone involved in the creation of a product is likely to feel some sort of effect if nobody buys said product. Whether it be immediate financial (as is the case with the giant pocketed investors who run the RIAA) or long term (as is likely the case with a game studio that churns out good games that nobody pays to see and everyone downloads so they eventually go out of business).

Regardless of how broken or inflated the prices of entertainment is due to all the overhead, it's still stealing. That is a fact and a conscious decision on your part after evaluating the risk/reward of getting caught.

If you still believe that there is no harm done in downloading things just imagine if everyone downloaded everything except for the best of the best? Sure the AAA films and games would still get supported but even Bethesda Software, the company that made the Fallout 3 games you said you'd support, depends on money from a producer, ZeniMax, to be able to pay salaries until the game is done. ZeniMax depends on investments paying off on their other studios that produce mostly shovelware phone and casual games to have the capital to invest in a AAA title.

I'm not sure what news you're watching but I can recall months ago every major news channel ranting about the republican rally and the variables that lead up to it including the debt, economy, health care, and unemployment. The only people claiming any real media bias are extreme left or right media groups who are more concerned with getting their viewers all rattled up for ratings than anything else.