For some reason, I imagine professor Quatermass on site, studying some dials as the drill descends.

If there's one place you won't escape the Tax Man, it's inside Zuckerberg's metaverse.

I'm not enormously religious, and perhaps I'm just getting old - but these sorts of experiments don't sit well with me at all. God knows what's coming next...

I don't have mode points, so I'll just agree with you emphatically. Though I would add that the line between "gaming" the market and innovating in a market is not even a clear thing. It's an inherent aspect of the system.

Chairman Xi Ping should be honoured to be compared to Winnie the Pooh. One of the greatest characters in children's literature.

Here's one to make it a round 2250:

String FindSmartestPersonInRoom()
{
  return "Stephen Wolfram";
}

"That job is not there to stroke their egos, nor bend to their virtues...it's a fucking job."

That is indeed the mindset that I am familiar with. But time and technology wait for no man - and perhaps there is a new balance to be struck in these strange days of trillionaires, AI systems and gig workers. I suppose we'll see how it works out.

I haven't seen a way over hyped, never-gonna-happen optical storage solution for ages. It's like old times...

With this rebranding, I suddenly trust Mark Metaberg again!

Got to find something to do with their Oculus headsets.

Progress in modern life consists of making the getting of things as efficient as a well written computer program. Nothing but a button click (and ideally even less than that) should stand between you and what you want to consume. What could be better? The trouble with this, is that while it (vastly) benefits online mega-retailers, it ends up feeling rather empty. The consumer begins to get a sneaking sense that they are just a mouse in Netflix / Amazon / Instagram's maze. Clicking and getting rewarded, whilst marketers and AI systems pull the strings.

I think people are coming to see this as having gone rather too far. Labelling any activity (in this case browsing a record store) as an inconvenient friction to be eliminated, misses the fun and joy that such "inefficiencies" can bring.

"the media keeps taking the bait with these stupid stories and Trump gets to live rent free in their heads"

They take the bait because their viewers take the bait. If it increases their ratings, they will run with it.

I agree with everything you say (I'm in London, far from the natural wilderness, but nevertheless...:-). I love the UK, and I am all for the principle of encouraging and enabling decent, world-improving projects. What I cannot stand are the parasites that seem to attach themselves to such good causes. In my view, they are doing it for cynical, self promoting reasons, and the argument that "at the end of the day it is for a good cause" does not excuse them. After all, for all their painfully obvious wealth, it is our Nation's money they are giving away, not their own. Contrariwise, they will be making money on the deal, you may be assured.

Believe it or not, I live in the UK, but not in a glitzy red carpet awards ceremony. It is possible to differentiate the two.

Slackjawed Royals mouthing platitudes about climate change - check!
Celebs dressing up in tasteless flashy outfits that cost more than most people earn in a month - check!
Coldplay - check! (sorry, couldn't resist)

If I were head of marketing for ISIS, making a "why we hate the west" video - I would just use footage from this event.