Ok. Maybe not *here.* But the cybernetic augmentation comes pretty dam close.

The issue is also return on investment. The US is pricing itself out of the market thinking it is the only market in town: raising capital gains is probably the stupidest thing we can do - but we're doing it. And we don't have to work for less - we have to stop expecting the government to give us free shit (free cell phones to the homeless in California). If we were a rational society we would have raised the age of retirement from 65 - 67 in the 1970s and we would now be talking about when to raise it to 70.

My father went through Alzheimers. He knew that he should know something and could not recall it. It's a horrifying disease and the person knows it (at least for the first few stages.) At the end, maybe you're right. But you have years of misery before that point.

Sheetrock is not shoddy. In NYC the main reason for using metal framing and 5/8" sheetrock on corridor walls is for fire safety. NYC requires a 2 hour safety window. Yes. A thief can kick in through the walls and enter your apartment. It's easy to get through cinderblock too. Put up a construction sign; put up plastic sheathing to "keep the dust contained," and 5 minutes later you're taking a drink, relaxing in the apartment.

Any technology that aides can also hinder. The "wingman" aspect was not invasive and is quite useful. But direct control over another, whether by date drug or synapse manipulation is, and should always remain, criminal.

Thanks for the video. Excellent clip.

I don't either. The last two places I worked at didn't even offer desk phones. They paid for the mobile carrier. We used Skype, IM, GoToMeeting. The only "phone" was in the conference room.

If you want less pollution you want fewer people. If you want a richer nation (with more pollution and more environmental degradation) then you want more educated immigrants. Either way we should look to Canada and have an immigration policy where we set standards for those who want to become citizens.

Any proposed solution will lead straight to Godwin's Law, sooner rather than later.

This is the first step. 20 years ago this was science fiction. 20 years from now we will look at today's 3D printers the same way we look at 9600 baud modems.

The singularity is coming. :- )

Now we need to achieve the holy grail - a screen that can expand, in much the same way one expands a browser window or photoshop/visio box by pulling it in the corner to keep the same proportion and from the side to elongate. Then your phone can expand to tablet size (or larger) when you need it.

The day when AI teaching programs will be the norm is coming very soon. These online schools are just a precursor to what's around the corner. As for "cheap" tech support - there will always be something new. 100 years ago 75% of the people worked on farms now less than 2%. In the 50s and 60s there were huge secretarial pools. Now those are gone. Future technological change will bring new jobs. Morse code came and went. Horse buggies came and went. New skills will always be needed. Now - there may be a time ( the singualarity and all that) when things may be really different (3d printing, photovoltaic cells providing unlimited cheap energy, nutritious, tasteful, lab grown food). But that's something we can't predict today.

Israel and Palestinians should ignore each other and live their own lives. No bombs. No trade (unless mutually agreed upon).. No nothing.

So, does the land the palestinians live on belong to Jordan (it did before 1967). Or did the palestinians defeat jordan in a civil war and become it's own country. (one could say that). The Palestinians have Gaza all to themselves, that's a start. They can start a government, schools, an economy all w/o Israel.

The argument for the SDI included dealing with rogue missiles sent either by mistake or by a country like N Korea. That SDI isn't perfect yet doesn't mean that the research on defensive weapons is foolish.

I thought he was a laissez-faire republican trying to limit government intervention.