...from the US today, or actually WORSE in the US today: You can democratically elect one of two parties that both continue on the same path.

I know that's a cheap comment to make (and I too am from Germany lived and worked in the US for many years - and loved it), but wouldn't you say there's more than just a grain of truth? How I too celebrated when Obama was elected! How very stupid of me.

The point is not that such access exists, the point is that it is NOT DOCUMENTED.

...a lot of rich Nigerians, quite a few Viagra and p. enlargement sellers, a number of individuals who know jobs that pay thousands of dollars that you can do from home, a handful of real estate executives, and more.

See http://superuser.com/questions/257792/how-can-i-block-ads-in-internet-explorer

Not that I use IE, but I tried that immediately and it works great. No need to install any add-ons, it works right out of the box, you just have to subscribe to one of those lists (like in Adblock+). And the page with those lists is provided by Microsoft!

The ONLY one they can potentially track at all is the original buyer. What use is it to track the NEXT uploader (*with this method*)? They can find out who he/she is anyway (trace IPs) - which they can already do.

What they are interested in here specifically is the original buyer turned uploader, because with the current method of tracking IPs they can get an uploader - but they still don't know if he/she is the source.

You got it wrong, I say, and it is because of this:

The benefits of this stuff are IMMEDIATE. You are talking genes, but the article (and I) are talking METHODS used by individuals. Genes: Only those having the gene benefit. Methods: EVERYONE using those methods benefit.

This contradicts both your points, which are valid only for genes. For example, there is next to ZERO "opportunity-cost" of waiting: Since, as usual in this world, only 1% of the exact methods attempted will end up being beneficial, the other 99% will not be. On the other hand, if something turns out to be truly beneficial, I can implement those methods IMMEDIATELY, without delay.

Or, trying to understand what/how you think, do you think this is about "brain zapping" turning into genetic advantages? This would be strange, since
- this is not what we've been talking about AFAICS
- the only thing natural selection can do *here* on genes is to let you SURVIVE those electric charges. Anyone who already survives or would survive will get any benefits immediately by just doing the same thing.

Medicine helped AGAINST natural selection (a little bit - mostly through helping babies survive, no need to overvalue its contribution though since its relevant mostly during lower ages (though not exclusively due to indirect effects when grandparents help raise children).

Such movements may help increasing natural selection.

So I'm all for it, since I'll sit at the sidelines at let other people be the lab rats to find the 0.0001% of stuff that actually works and is useful (longterm).

Private pilot (PP-ASEL) here.

I am certainly NOT the 1%. Learning to fly is not more expensive than a LOT of other hobbies. The very first time I flew in a small aircraft was as passenger with a student, who certainly wasn't rich (very old scrappy car; that was in Germany - so he didn't have to pay high tuition fees), he tried to get acquaintances to fly with him and share some of the cost of most of his flights.

Hourly costs sound high, but that is the time the engine actually runs. If you do aerobatics instead of (extremely boring) cross-country flights very few if any of your flights will be longer than an hour - and that's more than enough for the weekend, it's quite exhausting. That's roughly $200/week.

You CAN spend unlimited amounts of money, same as in sailing/yachting, but you also CAN participate in these hobbies on a limited budget.

That said, I stopped flying, part of it was THIS (article) and the noise my airplanes create. When I hike through Yosemite (or anywhere) the last thing I want to hear is small aircraft noise above, but it's sooo common these days. I just don't want to be that guy.
I also stopped horse riding, for similar reasons, but for the horses sake: I did not want the responsibility of owning one, and I don't want to support the horse industry where most animals spend almost all their time in small boxes. Those animals need lots of space on grass land, that's rarely what they get, at least not close to large cities (I did most of my riding in the SF Bay Area, some Oakland Hills stables) where there are lots of people keen on riding but not enough space to give horses a natural environment. Both flying and riding are VERY fun hobbies, unfortunately there is a considerable cost - to others.

"Anonymous Coward" has already signed that petition. Maybe you should get a real name if you want to show support? ;-)

MUCH better than what the US used its military for most of the time since WWII.

This comparison (designing a car - designing software) comes up again and again and again and again.

Just a thought: The basic function of a car has not changed since car #1 beginning of last century. Everything else were millions of very tiny gradual improvements.

Tell me again how software design is like that?

This is about the SCREENERS much more than about the passengers. You forgot those guys who are next to those machines all work-day long. See other articles with links right here about this very topic.

Fortunately I did not know that one can philosophize about the why, how etc. etc. (ad infinitum) of "how to program", so I just DID IT.

BASIC, then Assembler (hand-coded into machine hex code, I only had a disassembler program but no assembler so could not write text assembler statements). I learned assembler by learning about Boolean logic and the underlying electronic circuits, at some point it just "clicked".

My advice is the same as with all "how to... (get rich, become successful, find the love of your life, etc.)": If you are reading THIS discussion because you want to know how to program, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. You should be DOING IT, RIGHT NOW.

EXACTLY what happened to me - for 1/10 of a second I thought I was reading about anti-GRAVITY in trains. Then I suddenly remembered which lousy century I was born into and it all fell apart even before the part of my brain responsible for reading comprehension could finish its job.

Coming from the US you would probably want to have a "Ltd" in the UK, because UK and US law are very similar (since US law is based on UK law, surprise). Since it's the EU you would then be able to do business in any EU country using that UK business. It is a simple operation (founding a UK "Ltd"). Advice can be found on lots of web pages.