No. This is what VC money is for. The program described in TFA is just a way to funnel taxpayer dollars to the bad ideas that the VCs have rejected. Governments are horrible at picking winners, and tend to do so based on physical location (the right congressional district) and political connections, rather than merit. Government funding of basic research is sensible. Government welfare for corporations is not.

Go ask the same question in Donetsk or Sevastopol, and you are likely to get a different answer.

... to replace the democratically elected pro-Russian president, who was overthrown by military force. This new election was held in full knowledge that the eastern (pro-Russian) regions were in turmoil and could not meaningfully participate.

I am glad that Ukraine is turning toward the West, but I think it is very disturbing how it has all happened. The Russians are not the only ones with dirty hands.

There is also no reason to believe it is true. "Consciousness" is a mostly meaningless word. There is no consensus definition, and no testable or falsifiable phenomenon associated with it. Is a monkey conscious? What about an amoeba? What about the guy in the next cubicle? How is consciousness different from "free will" or having a soul? Intelligence is about observed behavior. Consciousness is about internal state. If an entity behaves intelligently, then it is intelligent, regardless of the internal state or mechanism.

Your optimism is misplaced. Photos of the crash are on Reuters website, and reports of debris and body parts are coming in. The big question now is who shot it down. Most fingers are pointing at the pro-Russian rebels.

Many feminists believe that casual and pervasive use of profanity contributes to a hostile and sexist work environment, and some court rulings have agreed with them. So you may not be as enlightened as you think you are.

Yes, because I, for one, don't see the point. Sexual harassment occurs whenever men and women are together. Unless there is some evidence that it is specifically more prevalent during scientific field work, just reporting that "it occurs" is meaningless. I occurs everywhere. It is always inexcusable, and as a society and as individuals we need to do more to prevent it, and be more supportive of the victims. But I see no reason that these efforts should specifically focus on "scientific field work".

In 1987, the average time-served for 2nd degree murder in Florida was 6.8 years. That is more than five, but that is the average, so many murders served less time. Sentences are much more than that, but "time served" is, on average, only 60% of the original sentence, and in many cases, less than half. Plenty of other states have a reputation for more lenient sentencing than Florida, and more lenient parole boards.

Indeed. These numbers would be much more meaningful if it was per mile rather than per driver. Are older people safer drivers, or do they just drive less? Most people 65 to 74 are no longer commuting to work everyday.

Many murderers spend less than 5 years in jail. If we start jailing managers for bad decisions, you would hear a giant sucking sound as company HQs headed overseas, taking all the management and administrative jobs with them. There is always someone advocating the "iron fist" version of justice, but history shows that it really doesn't work well. We used to execute people for stealing bread, but people still stole bread. Punishment should be fair and proportionate.

Other infrastructure, such as bridges and sewers, are taxed because THE GOVERNMENT BUILT THEM. So they are taxed to pay off the bonds that financed their construction, and to pay for ongoing maintenance. The Internet runs on fibers, cables, and routers financed by private companies. It is a different situation.

No problem. They can all get jobs with the FBI, and work in the Scare Mongering Department. They are really busy.

There is big money on both sides of this issue. Sure, big ISPs like Comcast, and TWC, want to kill NN. But big content companies like Netflix and Amazon are on the other side. Google used to be a solid supporter of NN, but now that they are getting into the ISP business, they have flip-flopped on the issue.

Generally, content companies donate to Democrats, and ISPs donate to Republicans. So Democrats oppose IP reform, and Republicans oppose NN. Pick your poison.

You are confused. The "fast lane" means normal speed, and anything else means deliberately throttled. There is nothing wrong with a "fast lane" for prioritizing particular TYPES of traffic, such as real time voice, but no ISP with monopoly power (almost all of them) should be allowed to discriminate based on the source or destination of the data.

Complexity does not mean unreliable. Semiconductors are immensely complex, yet are the most reliable part of most systems.

Yes they will:
1. Pop out old valve.
2. Pop in new valve.

An electric valve may be complex internally, but to a repairperson it is a single part that requires no adjustment or configuration. A lever and flapper valve may be inherently simpler, but it is more complex to repair because it is many separate parts, that must be installed, adjusted, bent, re-jiggered, adjusted some more, and then still malfunctions and leaks often enough that the water bill is more than the cost of a better toilet.

Except that scientists are working on solid state magnetic refrigeration and A/C that is mostly maintenance free. These SSM A/C units will be available long before hard-AI eliminates the need for programmers.