Get back to me about that guaranteed profit when the next Katrina hits in the middle of a major flu epidemic. Hint: "guaranteed profit" and "insurance company" are not phrases that sit well together, ever.

I'm not an expert on US insurance, but I do work for an insurer and I'm pretty sure US health insurers don't enjoy the position they're in. Insurers should be top-slicing excess of risk; instead, they're left with an expensive involvement every time you get your flu vaccination.

Gosh, I'm sure nobody thought of that. You should probably ring them up and tell them personally, I'm sure they'll be very grateful for your insight...

(1) I'm not a product of the US American education system (thank goodness) (2) the US American system is light years away from being a free market at any level (3) a universal basic literacy program is not what I suggest is required, at least initially.

They managed it when they had no idea. Coming up with the ideas is the smallest of the problems; it's getting people educated and getting ideas transmitted through time and space. Free trade solves the first and printing the second.

Is anyone else getting a nervous twitch about the words "read on"?

Also, can we just make Bennet an author so we can block him?

Actually, scratch that. Free trade and printing are all you need. People will work the rest out quite quickly.

Rubbish. You can derive modern technology from scratch in a few hundred years: all you need is a society that can support thinkers, printing to distribute ideas, and free trade to generate the wealth to make it happen.

Anonymous coward, I'd like you to meet the United States. I'm sure you'll get on :D

Also, freedom.

You must be careful when slagging Americanisms. Many simply reflect the original usage. Plough is Old English - ploh - and 'plow' was equally common until the 18th century.

Actually, it's about ethics in games journalism.

You don't get injured by the airbag, you get injured by not wearing a seatbelt. You can crash into a brick wall head on at 100+mph with a seatbelt and airbag and walk away; with just an airbag you're toast. Mandatory seatbelts would make more of a difference than airbags have.

It's about the excess of risk. Thirty years ago or more, when all cars were equally stealable, you could charge the same theft premium for all of them because they were all equally easy to steal and there is a relatively fixed amount of theft in total. When only *one* model is easy to steal, that model *will* be stolen, and hence insuring it means a premium equal to the cost of the vehicle.

And flipping it around, if it's smarter than us and it decides it needs to destroy us, maybe it has a point.

Equally, you could take it as read that he has considered obvious things like "don't put it there". It's hardly that difficult a solution to come up with. I understand your thirst for knowledge but sometimes an answer to the question is all that's required.