I feel the same way about TED talks. Just because it's a goddam TED talk, everyone treats it as effing gospel. Half of that shit is rehashed from pulp 1980s management self-help books. Someone sends me a link, "Hey, check out this TED talk, it's awesome!" And I say, "Dude, I said the same thing on my blog like 5 years ago", and they're like "yeah, but this is a TED talk."

It's refreshing to see predictive data analysis used for positive efforts, rather than simply selling more ads. Here's a call to action for all you data scientists at Twitter, FB, and other SV startups who think they're changing the world when all they're doing is putting money in their advertisers' pockets. News flash: statistics can be used to benefit society for a change.

And what kind of work does "provide value in a fast paced world? Are you saying you are solely qualified to answer that question? How arrogant must you be to think you have the whole world figured out and can decide for the rest of civilization that academia does not provide the kind of value that meets your satisfaction?

Go suck a buggy whip.

Why not? The increasing dominance of culture by business and the enshrinement of corporate priorities above all else has made it impossible to conceptualize our own humanity in terms that cannot be equated to monetary value. All of us caught in that engine of materialism are therefore blind to its effects. It's not our fault, we have to abide by these rules in order to survive: acquire, compete, defend, and do what it takes to secure our own "blessings of liberty" before they are secured by another, or unsecured as a result of layoff, medical bankruptcy, fraud, greed, the list goes on.

Where else is there to look for a solution? The ones at the top of the engine dare not change anything for fear of upsetting the gravy train that sustains them. The rest of us dare not challenge anything for fear of ending up begging on the streetcorner trying to save enough for a kidney transplant. The only people in our entire civilization that have the luxury of thinking about our humanity are liberal arts students! Oh, God save us all! But seriously, they are the only ones who can think outside the box. Many of them will likely be swallowed up by the work machine once they graduate and their free time will have come to naught, but some will stay and persevere and maybe one day come up with some new solutions. Then we can put technology to work for us instead of being its slaves. Then we can enjoy life without worrying about how to pay for medical care. Then we can find true value in our humanity that finally has nothing to do with money.

Your data are wrong. Although I can't comment specifically about lit or plant physiology (do you mean botany?), smart innovative companies are actually highly interested in sociologists and are fiercely recruiting them. Facebook's data science team is run by sociologists, and Google engineers are collaborating with sociology departments on various interesting research topics. This shouldn't be much of a surprise since network analysis was invented in sociology in the 1970s. Today's tweets and likes are still analyzed using techniques that sociologists came up with back when the only twerking going on was led by John Travolta.

It amuses me to no end how so many otherwise intelligent technical people maintain a stubborn bias against social science. Do you have to denigrate other fields in order to keep a sense of self superiority? That is an exceedingly narrow perspective completely unbefitting a rational engineer or a scientist of any stripe. If instead you would take the time to study these other fields, you might find something with which you could collaborate, or at least learn and expand your mind.

My robot's instruction file says that it "eats, shoots and leaves." OH NOES! I've been shot!

Remission accomplished: the semi-colon would be more common in any period.

Learn how to write, I expected more from a varsity letterman.

Fewer, they admitted fewer students. Nice work, poster boy.

McAfee's first thought on disembarking: "Great, now where am I supposed to find a drug dealer in Miami?"

How will they get the password hash without first breaking into the system? Seriously, how useful are these brute force crackers in attempting to crack, for example, my gmail password?

You've got it wrong... it's my death you need to worry about. I'm a solipsist, so when I die everyone else ceases to exist.

You should be free to swing your fist. You are not entitled to swing your fist in the immediate proximity of my nose. There is a difference.

There are valid reasons that certain freedoms should be restricted in certain circumstances. The entitlement culture to which Parent refers has turned people who should be responsible adults into obstinate children crying that their favorite toy has been taken away. Have a modicum of decency and respect for others around you: turn the effing phone off and sit still for 5 minutes. And quit yer crying.