Because that's what this whole cloud nonsense really means - going back to the hierarchy and control from which personal computing freed us.

Every time a game or program requires remote authentication, the reviews are scathing; yet somehow there is still a push to a paradigm of remote *everything*. This is completely inconsistent with the observed preferences of knowledgeable users. Of course, business management loves the idea - they see the control of centralization without even needing an in-house IT department. For anybody else, it means giving up the rights to your own computer.

They ARE doing their jobs, maintaining an enhanced familial / social network and more personal stimulation for the child.

OP does not include information about whether this is also assisting parents who find it difficult to travel (to visit in person which would be preferred) and/or expect limited time to interact with the child.

If/when you have a child, you can do it your way. When my son was born, my wife's parents lived in the next town (still do); my father was already dead and my mother lived far away (and has since died). Maybe with modern tech the relationship could have been closer. I certainly wouldn't begrudge OP the attempt.

Which?

I wouldn't mind believing in an indifferent god, precisely because such a god wouldn't mind either.

Most espionage cases involve someone with access (clearance, passwords, keys, etc.) getting information and passing it outside of the security perimeter. The access was legal, the passing was not. This case sounds exactly the same, and looking it up on the computer today should be no different from pulling it out of the file cabinet years ago (cue B&W film image of spy snapping pictures with Minox).

Do we really need 3D graphical desktops with moving wallpaper? Do we really need page-turning animations? Turn off all of the pretty crap in your system, and it works faster. (Plus I endorse the numerous others pointing out the drag of multiple layers of security.)

Bothered me the most about the waterboarding controversy: Is this the best we could do in this day and age? Where is H. Beam Piper's "veradicator" from the 1960s, or Lois Bujold's "fast-penta", or any of the truth serums described in fiction for years? (Of course none of them really find "the truth", they can at best find what someone truly believes, which could be completely wrong....)

Abuse could indeed make Orwell sound like an optimist; yet there is a legitimate place for interrogation in police and security situations, and torture is so last millennium.

How much of our economic statistics - both boom and bust - are tied up in meaningless garbage? And how much are bubbles like the random "values" assigned to housing rotating among different neighborhoods? What if we didn't produce 27 different sizes of toothpaste tubes and dozens of types of incompatible wall-wart chargers, and didn't have entire industry segments dedicated to producing waste paper and waste material? Imagine if the cost of food didn't have to incorporate the costs of producing and managing all of the coupons, and the costs of advertising in general - I'll bet we could feed lots of people right there.

... because then we'll be starving *and* the network switches will crash.