I can finally put my CS degree to good use, answering the same questions students would ask the TAs in basic OS and systems-level programming courses! ...except that the other comments have already answered the question. So, in true CS fashion, I will be lazy and refrain from duplicating effort ;)

Laziness is a virtue! (And that's on-topic, because a lazy paging algorithm is a good paging algorithm).

It seems to me that taking the responsibility for the line away from the Telecoms is asking for more problems when something breaks. It's bad enough already when they have to be talked into rolling a truck to fix an issue on lines they maintain. With privately held fiber, I really don't see any advantage. The Telecom, or a private contractor, would still have to be called whenever the private fiber had issues. This seems like it would add middlemen and fingerpointing without really giving any benefit.

You're right, we should all just curl up and wait to die I guess.

Technically, if the ground has any moisture, you can do that without the piss :)

If we're to survive as a species, in the long run, we have to get off this rock. Permanently. And unless we perfect some form of cryo-sleep or faster than light travel (possibly even if we DO perfect those), we're going to need some means of recycling our own waste products into usable substances.

I've been in situations where the only water available for drinking also happened to be the local wild animals' mudhole. Animal urine and fecal matter were most certainly present, but there was no other water for miles in any direction. So it was scooped up, run through a rag to skim off any solids, run through an activated charcoal filter to purify it, pumped full of iodine to kill any microbes that might have survived the charcoal filtration, then turned into koolaid to mask the taste. Survival situations will do wonders for changing what you are and are not willing to drink. I was fortunate that I had all that equipment for purification. Those living in third world nations don't have the option of stocking up at the local REI.

And I imagine space travelers heading for outer worlds, asteroid belts, or other star systems will have their options pretty limited as well :)