That was quite the rant. Can't believe I read the whole thing.

Black has got some incredibly naive ideas. It all sounds great. "Let's just stop doing stuff!" Okay. Sounds great. Until you need open heart surgery. Then oh shit, some "occupations" are really useful. And the surgeon had to learn medicine and surgery. So now you need schools. And he needed scalpels and antiseptic and scrubs and latex gloves. Well shit, now we need manufacturing, chemical and textile industries to produce those things. And he needs a building to operate in, so I guess construction workers can't quit yet. All of a sudden it looks like we actually need capital and labor and a system of production and trade. Kind of like an economy!

When you can replicate all that shit like on Star Trek, we can talk. Until then, there's an awful lot of work that needs to get done.

Anything that requires my computer to tell me "no" is evil. "Well I could play this file, but some server out there said I shouldn't let you, so no." Nope. That's not the way this works. My computer is my slave. It works for me and only me. Not for Sony, not for Disney, not for the RIAA or the MPAA or anybody else. Just meta-monkey.

And probably the NSA, but fuck if I can stop that.

So I can put the movie on my phone/tablet/laptop and take it with me to places where I don't have Internet access?

So Super Netflix still wouldn't stop people from pirating. Ultimately, I just want a damn file. Sell me a non-DRMed file and I'll buy it.

The GP said pirates would stop pirating if they could get stuff from Netflix. But that still wouldn't be as good because if I want to put a movie on my phone/tablet/laptop to take with me on a plane/train/desert island I can't. So I'd still just want a file.

But somebody does have ocean property. How did they get it? What if somebody else wants it?

I'm just wondering what the catch is.

That is the smartest thing I've ever heard.

Still, the bandwidth over the tin can and string NK uses to connect to the internet might not be that great...

You'd need offline viewing capabilities, and Netflix has said they will never offer that.

Regardless, they need to learn from music. Unencumbered MP3s have been available for purchase for years now, and the music industry has not collapsed. It's amazing, you give somebody an easy to use and high-enough quality format that will work on all their devices for a reasonable price and they'll buy them.

If they did the same thing with movies, I'd buy them. As is, with the DRMed crap, I will not, because I cannot play their files on the 12 different types of devices I have for watching movies.

With that kind of track record, the goons don't even need to bother with the $5 wrench.

Once this fails, their next plan will be to try to clog the tubes.

Great, now APK has another bullet point for his shitposts...

I understand that, but still, there's no incentive to wait tables. Certainly not with any regularity. On Star Trek, food, clothes, housing, all free. (I do wonder, though, how they apportion real estate. You can't replicate ocean front property, and I imagine that would still be desirable). You could go for a walk in the park, you could play in a holonovel, hang out with friends, write a song, play kadis-kot. Why on earth would you show up for a shift as a table waiter? There's no emotional or intellectual gratification.

I suppose in the actual future there will be no waiters. Just robots that bring you your food. And they'll probably get your order right every time and not spill water on you.

They just beam the poop out of your colon.

Highest paid job in the future: septic tank cleaner. $10 million/year.

Who cleans the toilets on the starship Enterprise?

I also always wondered about the waiters at restaurants on Star Trek. Nobody needs to work. There's free energy and free food. I totally get the idea that some people would choose to submit to a military hierarchy for a chance to explore the galaxy and conduct research, treat the sick, engineer great things. Give me free everything and I'd still write code. I enjoy it. I'd do more, not less!

But you still see people do shit jobs on Star Trek. I understand perhaps the barber on the Enterprise, or the waiters in Ten Forward. You want a ride on the starship, but you're not smart enough to get through the academy, so you sign on as a waiter. But there were still people doing this kind of shit on earth. Like at Sisko's dad's restaurant. Who the hell, given the wonders of the future, free of want and worry, says "I'm going to go wait tables for 8 hours at a stretch!"

Maybe they get paid a lot. Maybe that's the answer to the "10% of people working" thing. Those people are paid a shit-ton. They get way more resources than everybody else. And they're the ones doing the worst jobs. Perhaps the janitor really will be the highest paid employee at the company.