I appreciate where you're coming from, but should we really be leaving those kind of decisions to corporations whose primary motive is profit? That's like making a 10 year old responsible for your grocery purchases.

I wouldn't have a problem with allowing corporations to make decisions for lazy people if it didn't negatively impact the rest of the population...the remaining 1-2%.

*sigh*

Did we really "choose" the TSA?

That's a fair point. We're taught to comply our entire lives, until we get into "upper" management. Then we're expected to go for aggressiveness training to make us better leaders. WTF?!

I teach my students to be different, to think differently. I encourage the left-field ideas. How else can we grow? How else can we learn?

Without crazy, off-the-wall thinkers we would be nowhere and we would be terribly bored. :)

Wrong. Just patently wrong. People care about safety after a host of different attributes, such as: convenience, sex appeal, price, social status, etc...

People don't buy Apple products because they're safe, but because they fit into one of the above mentioned categories. Who would purposely purchase shackles when presented with a "shackle-free" alternative, ninety-nine percent of the (American?) population.*

My favorite science teacher in school told me this, "Life is lazy". Everything wants to do the least amount of work possible. Why would people be any different. I'm not excusing this behavior, just illuminating the cause. Like I tell my students, "If you strive to fit in, you're aiming for the bottom. Be better."

Now, if you had said, "Most people don't really care about being free. They'd rather do the "popular" thing", then I would be inclined to agree with you.

We (people in general) have become "fat and happy" and don't want to be hassled with the responsibility of making our own decisions. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

"Do not go gentle into that good night" -Dylan Thomas

All great minds have railed against the "popular opinion". Why? Because as a people, humans are notoriously unreliable at making good decisions. As individuals, we have made magnificent strides in science, art, literature, etc...

Please, consciously decide against the tyranny of corporate control. They will never have your best interests at heart.

*I can only speak from an American point of view.

To counter you last argument....
HP Failed Execs

Damn!

"I blame our much of mans greed " subtract "our"

"Given us more time to" subtract "n" from given...

I really need to proof!

Guess they were right! :)

As the years progress, an ever increasing majority of people are forced, through various agencies, into a state of poverty which becomes a self perpetuating cycle of ignorance and...well, stupidity.

On the flip side, an ever decreasing minority of wealthy families become smarter and more wealthy.

Most of my evidence to this is conjecture, but only because I haven't had enough time to read all the supporting studies. This is because I have to spend an inordinate amount of time working to afford the bare necessities of survival.

This is, in my opinion, an example of man knowing what the best course of action is (spreading around the wealth to insure societal betterment, not just allowing a few to control the best resources), but being too shortsighted and greedy to "do the right thing".

I am also to blame, but as I get older I have found ways to counteract those mistakes.

I blame our much of mans greed AND ingenuity on how short lived we are. With more time, we would have less impetus to be rash and brazen while young. Given us more time to contemplate how to be more effective cohabitants.

I feel sorry for our kids...

This is a no-brainer. Because they offer you pre-built solutions, for a monthly recurring fee that's cheaper than what you would have to pay (amortized over 5 years) to go it alone, they get to dictate the terms of the contract. They also get to fail and provide no "real" restitution for their failure. Your Virtualized Data Center is gone because we had a power outage in Bangladesh. Oh, you didn't buy the "Value Add Package", that means we don't have to provide any discounts or recompense for lost business or data. If you'd paid extra to have the data hosted locally, that would have been different.

Bull...

Of course, your pointy haired boss will insist on "cloud", you'll get right on it to keep your job. "Cloud" will fail, boss blames you, you lose job anyway.

If ya wanna save on infrastructure, why not have any applicable workforce telecommute, that'll save millions just on heat and electricity.

Blah...

Why is it that the only way common sense can win, in court, is through some obscure technicality?

Company X provides Service Y for free (with ads), but through an outdated or inconvenient method/medium. Company Z provides convenient access to Service Y, without changing the product, and Company X sues Company Z into oblivion.

How was Company Z's product or service hurting Company X?

Balderdash!

Other than that, good luck to Aereo.

As a side note, why don't more gadget manufacturers include tiny antennae in their products specifically for tuning in OTA TV?

Is there some massive challenge that restricts this?

First they slap Big Pharma with their anti-patent laws on life saving drugs and now this!!

India - The new Minute Men (insert relevant revolutionary fighters/thinkers)!

Very happy!

What ZIP code? $100k SF? Or $100k NH?

Location makes a significant difference...

Holy shit!!! I wish I had mod points....

That was hilarious.

Thank you good sir!