It's interesting how the common assumption is that if we find humanoids on other planets, they will be more technologically advanced than we. Imagine the disappointment when we find a planet populated by cavemen. Then again, there will likely be those among us who will seek to enslave them.

or "play-worthy" ?

There's a difference.

The ONLY thing that can stop a madman with a gun is a sane man with a gun. But we're not supposed to say that... according to some.

His buddy Barack agrees. Thankfully, the chances of this actually happening here in the US is probably much less. At least for now.

Maybe. The devil is in the details, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it. But Google has a shitload of money and they blow way too much on useless crap that no one wants like Google Glass and autonomous cars. They're launching fiber now here in Austin, giving Time Warner and AT&T some much-needed competition. Backing underdogs like Spring and T-Mobile makes me think Google may end up owning both. One thing Google does well is networking.

However, there is one caveat: will Google be sniffing all the traffic it sees on these newly-acquired traffic just to harvest it and sell to advertisers. THAT's where I draw the line. My ISP has only ONE JOB: connect me to the web without getting in the way. That's what I pay for and that's what I currently get.

Thus is the "war on drugs". Same old story, just new actors. It always amazes me how the US government THOUGHT it learned its lesson that with alcohol that prohibition doesn't work. But no, they just prohibited other substances and ended up with the same problems (organized crime).

I read in a Tor forum that it was Silkroad that was taken down (not Tor) and it was indeed due to a social slip, the owner logging in to IRC WITHOUT the protection of Tor, that caused him to get busted.

True, hard drugs and kiddie porn are to be dealt with. Fine. Go get 'em Barney Fife!

But what troubles me is that with all the advances in computer science, it's still impossible to create a truly brick-wall secure network where people can be truly anonymous. Is it even possible? It seems so, at least theoretically. Forget AI or self-driving cars. Baby steps. Let's solve some of these problems first.

Your theory would work if the cost of living in all of these countries was the same but it isn't.

Only if you use gmail, or communicate by email with someone else who does.

Wow, your people must really abuse their machines. My Lenovo laptop is 5 years old and in perfect condition. Yeah, the original battery is gone but replacements are a-plenty.

Tablets aren't a replacement for home use either. Everyone I know who bought a tablet still use their full-sized (or laptop) computers daily. Some of them don't even use the tablet anymore.

It would seem to me that they have a responsibility to support the versions that are in use by the majority of their customers. This whole idea that 2.5-year-old software is "ancient" is a load of BS. Imagine the outcry if Microsoft quit supporting each version of Windows after such a short time.

I quit paying attention to the CES when they kicked out the consumer years ago.

This Catholic will tell him to get bent. The contents of an encyclical are not considered infallable.

The person in the car may own it, but they aren't in control of it. You can't even call them a driver if they can't drive the car. I wouldn't have have much of a problem with self-driving cars so long as I can grab the wheel and gain instant control when needed. But Google's removal of the steering wheel, brakes, and gas pedal made them look ridiculous and places them squarely in the position of complete liability.

What really bothers me is the over-confidence in Google software on this board. I'm I the only one that sees their bugs? Google Maps and Google Drive (last I tried it) are full 'em. Maps crashes, leads me to businesses that are long closed, can't find another business 2 blocks down the street. Tells me to keep driving down Smith St. when I'm nowhere near Smith St. When I tried Google Drive (about a year ago) it couldn't sync without creating a bunch of duplicates. Yeah, I want the people who wrote that garbage to write the software to write the code that drives my car.