You're probably right at this stage in the game, but I don't think that's the ultimate trajectory the tech is taking. Face it -- most people don't particularly care, or care very little, about how their data is being used.

*Very* few people commute on the shinkansen in Japan, and the distances you're talking about would run around $200 USD per day. I can't think of a single person I knew during my 10 years living in the country who commuted on the shinkansen. If such a commute became necessary a company would just foot the bill for a small apartment and relocate the employee.

Commuting by car is what is actually rare in Japan. In such an urbanized country, with such a robust public transport system, nearly everyone takes the train, or the subway, or the bus. Only in the boondocks do you find the majority of people commuting by car.

Two hour commutes on NORMAL trains, however, are not rare.

Gotta keep that prison-industrial complex well-oiled somehow, right?

Isn't it amazing how people will completely ignore the relative and essential merits of products and literally go deeply into debt just to buy something just because it is new?

Don't take this personally, but can you say "first world problems?"

Pardon me as I adjust my tinfoil hat, but convenience isn't the ultimate goal. I imagine the ultimate goal is to capture as much data as possible for a variety of uses.

Organizations can already access a wealth of data from mobile devices, enough to basically tell exactly what you're doing at any given time during your day. Unfortunately this doesn't work when you come home and plop your phone down on the counter -- when you're home, a great deal of your activity goes off-radar. Now just imagine if there was a way to track everything you were doing *inside* your home as well... hmmm...

And a little Peachtree USB to optical I run into the amp's DAC. Cost a total of about $1800 US. I buy CDs and rip them to FLAC; I would love to get a nice turntable and build a vinyl collection, but once you start down that road there's no going back. I'm content with being a poor man's audiophile.

...are also probably two car payments, a mortgage, and a credit card payment per month in debt. Half the people I know throw away many magnitudes more money in interest on their debt each month than I could hope to spend on lottery tickets.

Like most everything in this world, buying versus renting often can't be reduced to purely financial terms.

Basically, I tend to agree. I think as a society we have gotten to the point where anything that's "new" or "smart" or whatever is just accepted as "good" and everyone buys into it wholesale, without actually taking a second to critically examine the essence of the functionality and think about whether or not it's actually a good thing.

One of my daughter's best friends is homeschooled. She and her two sisters have to be the nicest, most well-adjusted, and intelligent kids we know, and they have tons of (non-homeschooled) friends. Their parents work their asses off to make sure the kids are involved in a lot of activities, though, so it does take a lot of effort.

If public was the only option I had, I would seriously consider homeschooling and working with other homeschoolers in the community for social interaction. (Our state has some of the worst public schools in the US.) I know several parents who homeschool and their kids are doing excellent. Luckily we have a couple of good private schools in the area, and even more luckily, I can actually afford to send my kid there, so that's where she goes -- and does very well. Kids are surprisingly good at adapting to most whatever you throw at them.

For that to be true, though, you have to let them grow and develop as independent human beings. Your wife's reluctance to let go should not be the deciding factor -- this is entirely about your kid's education, not your wife's emotional needs. Good luck finding a way to tell her that without ending up sleeping on the couch for a week, though...

I'd say many if not most people who have smartphones don't *need* them either. If you have a job that has you on the road constantly, working offsite, etc., then you may need one, but a dumbphone is perfectly sufficient for the average person. We've let companies with slick marketing campaigns convince us that we need a LOT of stuff we actually don't need.

Absolutely, thanks for the extra info.

Seriously, to put it simply, these guys are the shit. I figure most Slashdotters are well aware of what the EFF does, but if you aren't, definitely check out their website, blog, etc., look at what they've done, and consider donating to support them. (FWIW, I am in no way affiliated with the EFF. I just think it's a great organization.)