I don't know. I can't ask the grass, zooplankton, krill, or any of the large number of bacteria that spread through being eaten.

They complied with the request, they sent him the information, and they told him that he could get more. As part of a FOIA request, the agency can charge a fee, http://www.foia.gov/faq.html#cost.

They say that they will waive the fee if the information is in the public interest, and that the requester has no financial interest in the matter, http://www.foia.gov/faq.html#fees. In short, this rule appears to exist to narrow the search.

These rules are quite reasonable and appear to exist so that you can't just say "Tell me everything that the NSA knows about semantic processing" and expect the taxpayer to foot the bill. His request appears to be of the "tell me everything about this project" nature, which can be a time-consuming effort. They prepared a 7-page manuscript for him, with his/our taxpayer dollars. I find their actions reasonable.

MOD PARENT UP.

Price is determined by two parties: the party willing to pay and the party willing to accept. If these parties have come to an agreement which they believe mutually beneficial, and a transaction ensues, then this is the real price.

My house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, which is primarily based on demand. Why is a book so special that it has a "real" price not controlled by how much people want it?

First: I don't recall that you made that point.
Disclaimer: I work with intelligent tutoring systems daily.
Full disclaimer: I work for a non-profit.

The big thing is: be replicated.

Human tutoring on a one-to-one basis is remarkably effective. In fact, it is approximately 1-2 letter grades better than classroom instruction (depending on the source*). There are obvious limitations on these educational gains (28 person classroom needs 28 teachers!). A good portion, if not the majority, of people are trying to copy what a human tutor does, in order to make this level of education better, faster, cheaper, sleepless, or more available.

I would ask you to consider your own question for a number of other technologies:

What does this line assembly manufacturing robot do that a human can't?
What does this ATM do that a human can't?
What does this automatic check recognition system do that a human can't?

There is a list: work through the night, be easily replicated, serve in areas where the human can't/won't go, access content from the internet as soon as it becomes available, etc.

*See VanLehn 2011, Bloom 1984

See http://iaied.org/about/, http://www.educationaldatamining.org/, http://its2012.teicrete.gr/, and others for more information.

If you know the student has been struggling for the last 30 minutes, do you continue on this instructional vector, or adjust course? If you adjust course, how do you do so? If you are going to adjust course, what to you base it on? That the student is taking too long? That their facial responses indicate confusion? Frustration? Anger?

There is a field of educations and computer science research behind these decisions, which you have conveniently ignored.

This is not necessarily true. Emotional states can be picked up via computer, and are correlated significantly with learning outcomes. See "Affect and learning: An exploratory look into the role of affect in learning with AutoTutor" (2004) for some more information on the subject.

I owned a 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis until last November. In total:
$200/month for gas (7 mile daily commute, 50 mile biweekly visit, 50 mile weekend adventure, 18 mpg)
$120/month for maintenance
$50/month for insurance
$10/month for tolls
---
$380/month in operating expenses

The Grand Marquis broke ($5000 in repairs needed). I now own a 2008 Toyota Yaris. In total:
$100/month in gas (holy crap fuel savings!)
$18/month in maintenance (obviously not sustainable, oil changes only)
$62/month in insurance
$10/month in tolls
---
$190/month in operating expenses

Owning a car is the second largest expense in my monthly budget (housing is first) which is not "Blow Money". I have never had car payments, and I drive significantly less than those around me. I suspect that I am not alone in this recognition of car expense. I live in Orlando and do not pay for parking/garage fees.

I will give up my car when a robocar which can take me to/from work, on a weekend adventure, and can be insured for less than $400/month. I will do so without hesitation, as the time gains are substantial.

Or not. The following short story presents a picture where, instead of being slaves to robots, we may enslave them instead.
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

Someone please tag this. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong.

The benchmark isn't $45M. This can and will continue to happen until the security problems are fixed. If you don't want your ATM to be a Quik-E-Mart you are going to have to upgrade security.

Regular here. Hacked my teacher's computer in high school. I will have a PhD in Computer Engineering next month.

Correlation is not causation, of course, but an interest in "computers" leading to "using computers" and "degree in computers" isn't much or a stretch.

Hmm... A complaint about sending unneeded and unwanted food to people that want and need need it? That got modded up?

I suppose that you would have us destroy the food, rather than give it to hungry people? Because it will make the farmers for these starving people richer?

I'm curious, what should we do with the excess crop?

I am more interested in what Slashdotters have to say on the subject than anyone else. Typically a story like this plays out as follows:
NPR/BBC - here are the unbiased details of the story
BS news - OMG Explosion! Think of the children/town/nation! The government should do something/nothing!
Slashdot - here are similar stories (ammonia nitrate-related disasters), chemical discussion, physics of the matter.

MOD PARENT UP. Half my kingdom for mod points.