Still, the 6502 is simple enough that we'll probably be able to 3D print them soon :).

Hey! No "your mom" jokes here!

But ... who should back it, and why? Who has a financial interest in you actually retaining a figment of privacy?

What you just said is for the average computer user about on par with using a JTAG interface. If you can't walk it's moot whether you should climb 2 or 20 stairs.

Umm... how do these forged drivers get the blessing from MS to be considered drivers that you can install without clicking through half a dozen "this is not the driver you're looking for" screens?

Android is all about tracking everything you do to send you ads, so I doubt it's doing the same. I should check mine sometime.

None of those examples are obvious 'make-work' jobs. They're jobs that haven't been automated away, but they're jobs that need doing for the company to function.

Make-work jobs are jobs which exist soley to employ people, like getting one guy to dig a hole and the other to fill it in. Or where any sane company could have automated the job away, but they refuse to do so just to keep people employed.

You said 'no (private, US) company is wiling to' do large scale chip fabrication.

So what do you call Intel?

I think you mean "superior to", because "better than" is based on a judgement by others. You could make an objective judgement based on numbers of some sort, there.

How's video going to help when the robbers are, you know, wearing masks and stuff?

Bingo. Rather than the Lords Of Google coming down from the sky with the One True Driverless car that has no steering wheel at all, in the real world we'll start with increasingly driver-free cruise control on highways and progress from there. The average car will probably have hands-free cruise decades before it can drive itself around town.

But that makes the fanboys sad.

And is it a stop, or a three way stop, or a four-way stop? I think we even have a two-way stop somewhere in town, where one lane is allowed to continue through without stopping.

So cities can raise revenue by changing the speed limits every day or two, and catch cars before Google has updated their maps.

Instead of ending a politician's career, end his life. The penalty is the same, so why bother with the lesser crime?

Why would anyone in their right mind want to trust a car that's relying on mapping data programmed into it rather than looking out at the real world. Do you think you could drive safely through town by ignoring the road and just turning where your GPS tells you to?