I'm a fan of U2 and I can see how some people might consider what they did rude or presumptuous, but theft? - No, just leave the contorted 'theft' analogies to the MAAFIA. No offense intended, but they are much better at it than you are.

"I love you, and I hope your own children treat you in the same way you have treated me".

Legendary 1980's Christian rock band beat the current pop queen at her own game, deal with it, and then get off my lawn.

Agree. The AT&T mob were not hammered in court for finding a flaw, they were hammered because they attempted to use the flaw to extort money.

"Fact" engines such as Watson normally produce several results (facts) with a confidence rating on each and can show their "reasoning" step by step. The step by step reasoning is much more useful as a confirmation method than the source code. Source code won't help you much unless you have a solid background in statistical analysis.

No, and that's the point.

Search is already neutral, it's the order of results that upsets people because by definition, ranking cannot be neutral. An intelligent search engine such as IBM's Watson gives a confidence rating on it's "facts", it can produce multiple answers each with a confidence ranking. They can also explain in excruciating detail how they arrived at the answer, and they can do it better than humans. Technology is a tool, a hammer that can be used to build or destroy a civilization.

Yes, up until Henry Ford doubled his workers wages, introduced a 40hr week, and proved the Scrooges wrong.

Yeah, that's what they said when Henry Ford used it.

"[one] of the main causes of warming is the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulting from our burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal and natural gas." - Freeman Dyson

More evidence for Dunning-Kruger.

Ever see a rabbit /mouse plague?

Speaking of small children, how's celibacy for catholic priests working out?

The labs actually pull in money for most universities, when students are not using them they are rented out for private training. I remember the head of CS department bitterly complaining about being forced to share the bounty with other departments.

As for TFA the companies are offering $1.75 for every dollar they state puts in, that's not a shakedown, that's philanthropy. That education in the US has to rely on philanthropy is the real shakedown.

As opposed to what? - Anarchy, tribalism, feudal warlords? An economic market is not a thing or a place, it's a set of rules that govern trade. The Fox News definition of "free market" = "free from regulation" is an oxymoron at best.