I think that the problem is that Netflix is making the assumption that "A" player + "A" player + "A" player + "A" player = "A" team.

Unfortunately, it often doesn't work that way.

Please do. It did a great job of filling in the gaps in my knowledge of Bitcoin, by constructing it step by step, using simple example scenarios and showing the issues involved in implementing a digital currency.

Now if only I could find a article to explain monetary policy in the same style...

I wouldn't bother, really. The holders of those views hold them more for emotional than logical reasons.

Thanks. I read the original article, and I got the impression that there was more emphasis about teaching tech to children than working with would-be entrepreneurs to help with their businesses.

I know that there are Africans who have worked abroad returning to their home countries, but sadly, there are far more Africans remaining abroad, or worse still, seeking to leave. But perhaps it doesn't matter - you only need a few enterprising souls to kickstart something good.

Not another "technology will save 'Africa'" story - as though 'Africa' was a monolithic entity.

It's possible that this program will produce some enthusiastic and talented programmers in Africa... but when those programmers realise that it's frustrating writing programs when there's only a few hours of power a day, internet access is flaky, corrupt and predatory government frustrates their efforts to set up a business, and some big company overseas beckons them to work, they probably won't remain in Africa for very long.

In any event, I think it would be better to focus more on the business side of things (i.e. how can technology aid your business) rather than technology for technology's sake).

I thought slashvertisements were supposed to be about companies that were growing, not companies that were closing down?

Not so sure how good this is. From what I can see, the equal error rate of palm identification is 0.17, compared to 0.01 for fingerprint identification.

Science is when you teach yourself by experimentation.

I'm not sure what the specifically means here, but for one to learn something, either you actually do something and get some feedback that enables you to build a model of the world and thereby predict what might happen in similar circumstances, or you receive sensory input and have someone explain to you what the input means.

Either way, there's some kind of teaching going on.

Is it possible for this to happen? Absolutely.
Is it likely that this could happen? I have no idea, but I doubt it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about an event whose probability is hard to estimate.

I'm less worried about the likes of the NSA, and more worried about criminal gangs getting hold of my data and using it to make my life a misery through identity theft.

Anyhow, the way these things work is:
- Either a very small percentage of people are seriously affected by breaches in privacy, in which case I don't need to worry too much about it, or
- A significantly large number of people are seriously affected, so that it becomes a political issue and there's a push to do something about it.

Please pull this story - it has already been posted today!

This is not really "the right thing", any more than a hacky bug fix is the right thing. The right thing is to deal with the deficit/debt, as many Republicans want to - but the way they want to go about it is terrible (a combination of threats and spending cuts only). The reality is that until both parties sit down and agree to deal with the deficit/debt with a mix of tax hikes *and* spending cuts, it's going to be hard to make any significant progress on this.

This is very well intentioned to be sure, but I don't see how it would work. In the real world, most people are literally and metaphorically able to get away with murder on the battlefield; the only time they aren't is when they are captured by an opposing force. Is the Red Cross suggesting that if the game AI senses that you have committed gross acts of violence that it should cause the enemy force to overwhelm you as "punishment"? Or that an international tribunal should materialize on the spot to try you?