What does luck have to do with fitness or mediocrity? I'm pretty sure that you and me have no inherent genetic advantages over somebody who finds himself on the wrong end of an environmental disaster. I admit that there may be exeptions, like people who willingly live in cities in a dessert without sustainable water supply or near the ocean but below the level of said ocean.

Not so long ago, my company had "blank" access badges. In case one is lost, there's no need to give a thief or spy a hint which doors it might open for him.

It's not enough that a government says that the money has value, people actually have to believe it. In 1923, the German government could have announced that the value of the Mark hasn't changed at all for 20 years, but in fact the value dropped close to the paper the money was printed on.

I think "intrinsic value" and "because everyone thinks so" are more or less the same thing. If the value of gold was inherent to the material, independent of people's opinion, the gold price shouldn't fluctuate as much as it does. Of course you could also say, that the value of everything else fluctuates against gold...

Gold was already valuable before it was actually useful. If a large fraction of the value of gold was based on it's technical uses, the gold price should be more stable IMHO. The gold price is more based on a circular logic: It's valuable because everyone thinks so.

I guess I will have to bookmark this discussion fur future reference.
Anyway, here is the balm for my nerves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVUcjDO8-JM Venetian Lute Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVvqFqITYlY Luc Arbogast, a French street musician

I don't think this miracle drug would change the world all that much. If you think of "death by old age" as the finishing line in the game of life, few people actually reach it. Most seem to die of causes that will probably not be affected by this drug, i. e. cancer, heart diseases, accidents, suicides...
Especially the later could seem rather attractive once you had to bury your spouse and your children.

There may be some truth to the claim that you never cease being Catholic, just like alcoholism can't be cured. I wonder if there are any statistics about conversion rates between followers of various religions. If there are, I would expect that Catholics in general may cease to believe in god, but will rarely join other churches or religions.

Now, having said that, there *are* limits. DON'T YOU BE REPORTING ON MY PORN! THAT'S WILLIE'S TIME!!!

Great, now that every browser offers a "stealth mode" for err... browsing for birthday presents, there's another set of tracks you would have to cover, if that's even possible. I'm sure if you host a movie night on your new PC, people will be thrilled about the strange advertising you get.

I would modify that strategy if necessary. Example:
In the dark ages, the German King Henry I did have a problem with Hungarians who were in the habit of to looting and pillaging southern Germany. He paid them tribute for a few years, while building castles and city walls and raising militias. When he felt he was ready, he unilaterally reduced the yearly tribute to one (1) dead dog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riade

"Also, kino.to was making literally millions from advertisement."
Strange, that the movie industry ignores the opportunity to do the same.

Depending on the nature of "something", you might not actually want to have it. If someone would upload some pirated terrorist child porn to your server, left a log file on his PC and gets busted by the cyber police, you and your server would be their next target.

Here's the thing. They did an examination of people who were exposed, and those that weren't (a control group) and the incidents of Cancer? about the same.
Who are "they" and where can one find this study?

But the rate of evolution slows down as technology matures. For example, WWI fighter planes of 1918 were way ahead compared to those from 1914. In WWII, there also was some progress, but at a much slower rate (ignoring completely new technology like jet planes).
Or during 1995-2000, PCs became obsolete much faster than today.

That might well leave you with nothing much.35 years ago, homosexuality was not quite as widely accepted as it is today for example.