Email is actually an excellent form of communication. It's so flexible that every realtime and async messaging system could be usefully transacted over email (and often is), at least every message could use the email data formats (Subject/To/From/Cc/Bcc/Attachment/Body fields, MIME headers, X-whatever arbitrary tuples, etc). In fact every message sent with at least one human endpoint should be transcribable into RFC822/etc emails as a test of its utility and completeness. I had a friend in the 1990s who firmly believed TCP/IP should be restandardized with every packet required to be formatted as a separate email. That's too far (unless packets were bigger), but not wholly wrongheaded.

I hope email never goes away. I do hope that email gets much better message databases and presentation UIs, better integration with non-email messaging (in the same, integrated messaging systems). For example I'd like my every Slashdot post (and other Web transactions) to be indexed in my own storage in email format, and I'd like my emails to be able to HTTP POST/GET/PUT from my MUA. I hope that email finally gets better standardized structure of message bodies, especially for quoting by pointer with attribution, and more nonlinear structures of message sequences. Especially branching and quoting multiple previous generation messages, as well as from separate threads, in a single reply, which maintain coherence among threads.

But that's just better email, not post-email. More and better email would make the world a better place. I hope it does.

I'm waiting for analog FAXes to die. But the concept of FAXing with a dumb machine at the console is a good one. What I'd like to see an a method of IP FAXing where you fax using domain names. fax1.domain.com, fax2.domain.com, etc. So simple that even a ditsy bimbo blond of a receptionist can use it.

Step 1: Setup an e-mail server.
Step 2. Create PTR (reverse DNS record).
Step 3. Create an SPF record (TXT DNS record)
Step 4 (optional): Use a hosted e-mail security service to filter the SPAM for you.
Step 5 (optional): White list SMTP traffic only coming from your hosted e-mail service provider. Block all outbound SMTP traffic from inside your local IP subnet.

Results: Virtually little to no spam and no chance of being blacklisted on an RBL list from an infected machine inside your network.

Yes. I do this for a living as a network consultant.

While most people here are starting from the base assumption that everything can be explained through science

Nobody claims that everything can be explained through science. What we claim is that science is the only way you can actually confirm anything. Some things are beyond the reach of science, but that's no reason to go believing in mythology.

I'm starting from the assumption that it cannot and that the Biblical account is true beyond challenge.

And what rational reason is there to do that? Especially considering the numerous ways that the bible contradicts both scientific and mathematical fact, it even contradicts itself.

Do you have a rational explanation for why you chose the veracity of the bible as your assumption, instead of the tao te ching, or the vedas, or even The Lord of the Rings?

If you start from my assumption (which many do not, but stick with me), then logically you would also have no issues with seemingly contradictory evidence showing up

If you were the least bit rational, you would realize that as soon as a single contradiction occurs you have proven your assumptions incorrect via proof by contradiction.

The american school system is designed to DISCOURAGE this.

No, it just sounds like you got some crappy teachers. There are some reasons why there are more crappy teachers around than they should be, but it is not some scheme to hold back smart people. The administrators don't sit around saying, "Gee, we aren't doing enough to hamper smart kids,"

No, it's designed to discourage this. By testing out of a couple of math courses and then taking Algebra II and Geometry at the same time, my younger brother completed the school district's highest-level math course (Advanced Placement calculus) in 10th grade (thus forcing the school district to pay for two years of university math instruction). The next year, the school district changed the prerequisite structure in the math program to make it impossible to take AP calc before 12th grade.

I'm going to have to ask for a source for that, because somehow I managed to miss it being reported in the UK press, and it didn't seem to prevent the beer festival that I attended last week from having a stall full of British wines, described as wines...

t would be a world where everyone is better informed and not parroting the opinion of a talking head they saw last night.

You're confused. The Cultural Revolution was based on spreading Communism. That in of itself was about getting rid of confucianism and the denigration of wealth. The Cultural Revolution was a "reboot" of Chinese society to be ruled and controlled by Mao Zedong and his supporters (CCP).

Communism, everywhere is it's ruled has been (and continues to be) and abject failure. It's pure evil. It must be fought and defeated whoever it tries to infect a society. Thermonuclear fallout be damned! The aftermath provides salvation for human dignity and freedom above and beyond the oppressive nature of communism.

Yes, but if RIM is having problems selling the inventory, they will have to lower prices. That means they will take a loss of some sort. While smartphones don't spoil like food, the rate of technology does make their models obsolete quickly. RIM can take the losses in small chunks or a large write-off. Some feel the one-time loss is easier.

But just because things don't go your way, it doesn't mean there was a conspiracy behind it. What was the reason and proof behind the Birther controversy? Absolutely nothing. It was all rumors and conjecture at best. When presented with evidence that refuted the rumors, Birthers just doubled down.