These are things that 3D printing doesn't do maybe. But most certaintly it is feasible. And once that's achieved, you will be able to create metals with a la carte properties.

Sorry for taking so long to respond.

I agree with you, the government can do anything with info.
The thing is that if it were government itself, there would be a chance for public scrutiny, in every step of the process.
When it's a commercial entity, you will never know what happens with your data, and the government will get it secretly. You are still at risk of the government tracking you, but no one is accountable.

Tell that to google search, or wolfram alpha

Very insightful. The good thing about governments being visibly a part of infrastructure is that we know they are powerful, and the problem with them looking into our life is very visible. Also, we have a chance for transparency.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

In Europe, or here in some parts of Latin America, the government will stand in the way of business, certifying what you can and cannot do, forcing you to meet certain safety standards, and to provide specific warranties for customers. Even customers or workers can have a say in what companies can and cannot do. Civil responsibility when something goes wrong is not so high, because the company can use their compl|

In the US, people don't like government meddling in the way of companies and business are a lot freer to do business as they see fit. The most important thing standing in the way of a company harming their customers or others, to improve the bottom line, is the threat of losing a whole lot of money in a lawsuit. If you remove that part, there would be nothing to balance the profit vs safety equation.

Hmmm, we have a whole lot of Asimov books that show why that kind of idea wouldn't be of much help in practice.

Good idea, but incomplete:

Product C is free, maintained by a mid sized company, and they sell support contracts
Product D is proprietary, owned by a company that might be bought by the competitors, who may or may not keep supporting your product
Product E is a great software product, proprietary, but your company is not in the target market, so licensing and support don't match your needs
Product F is proprietary, and you might need small development tasks on top of the product. Only can buy from the owner.
Product G is free, and you might need small development tasks on top of the product. You can buy from the developer, build your own, contract, whatever.

Add to that, whether there is an easy way out should the unthinkable happen (end of life for products). Does the software support industry standards? Are there alternative implementations of these standards? Have you tested compatibility?

I'm not hiding the technical or strategic advantages some proprietary products might have over free ones, but they are stated everywhere, only trying to lay out more aspects you need to care about.

I think regarding the article you just need to do your job, and lay out all the things you consider. Free software is almost always better in the long run, but it's only sensible to lay out everything you considered, so others can make the best decision.

No way.
I live in Uruguay, we grow some fruit here, but also import a lot. Local fruit usually looks like you picked it up from a tree.
Imported fruit looks more uniform, and more colorful, and usually has some kind of wax to protect it. They also have small labels in each piece, some times.
Also, local fruit smells like fruit, imported fruit has no smell, in comparison.

Of course, YMMV, but the closer you are to the source, it's easier to get fresher produce.

Don't let ideology blind you. People don't need jobs.
People need food, shelter, medical care, and several other things. Jobs is one of the ways you can get those.
If there _are_ enough resources for everybody, probably we can come up with way to distribute them effectively, even one that doesn't need busywork. It's not an easy problem, but seems solvable.

You are mostly right. About your ISP, it would probably be very easy to know what you're up to, by comparing your data usage pattern against other online video users usage. Hulu and other services with heavy traffic probably have a specific traffic usage signature that they can identify, even if you are using a VPN.

I live in Uruguay.
We export lots of soy and wheat.
In the most productive lands, Cargill sells seeds, finances, rents machinery, and buys the result. Of course, farmers are independent, but Cargil controls the price, and what they grow. From the outside, it's as if they _are_ the producer.
Something very similar happens in parts of Argentina.

Monsanto has a large presence here, also.

It's not a long shot to think that they might end up managing all our crops, if they tried really hard.