Really? In the engineering education I've been exposed to (I'm in a Canadian engineering program right now) they heavily play up the importance of eliminating bias and groupthink to find the "best" option. There's an immense stress on the idea that there is no "right" option, and that even the option you choose to be right has to be properly sourced and cited with a fully documented process, so you are accountable for your decisions. In fact, that accountability is an immense part of the "professional" part of the education, and I'd argue that's why engineers wouldn't make good extremists; they'd be looking for the kind of backup that just isn't there with some religious beliefs.
Add that to the fact that hackers and nerds, more so than other groups I've seen, tend to be more questioning of traditional religions than the average person - and it's not just me who notices.
This is a VERY important point, if I had points I'd mod you straight to the top.
This isn't an issue of privacy, or having something to hide or being a criminal; this is about control. This is a private corporation saying they have the authority to take away my right to control what I disclose to people, I'm saying they don't. When you blog about a restaurant you go to, sign up for last.fm and let the world know your favourite song is "Jesus, Take the Wheel", or set your Facebook information to "Looking for: Men" when you're male, you are opting in to something; it is your choice to tell people that. Disclosure is, and should always be, opt-in...that's the only thing that makes sense. If this was all verbally disclosed, you'd be opting-in by opening your mouth in the first place. There's no situation in which your mouth would be open and sound coming out by default, with you having the "opt-out" option to close it.
I thought there was a decent chunk of children's literature about how talking behind people's backs is mean, how if you know a secret, something bad about someone, then you shouldn't tell it to everyone because it's wrong. Did Eric Schmidt miss that part of Kindergarten? How is this different?
The remaining ones are illegal intruders (non-citizens).
That's a very good point, it's a known fact non-citizens and illegal immigrants don't get sick or need help in any way. Those damn cyborg immigrants, not only are they stealing our jobs, parking their cars on their lawns and fucking our wives behind our backs, but they're also immune to pain and disease! It's just unfair.
The only reason a million times as many people prefer Spears and the like is because of advertising and promotion.
[citation needed]
Honestly, I hate the elitist attitude of people who don't like pop music. Some people really, honestly like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, whatever overproduced musical group happens to come along. Go to any average club night or party and tell me if you don't see the crowd go absolutely crazy when "Wannabe" comes on. Not (necessarily) because it's been overhyped, but because people actually like it. The attitude that we're in the middle of a paradigm shift and that we're about to enter music's Age of Aquarius is wrong every time. Things will change, but music you don't like won't just go away.
Happiness is twin floppies.