We already have completely automated production of software in the IT industry, i.e., we effortlessly create millions of copies of our product with the push of a button and no manual labor required. And yet there is still full employment of computer programmers, in design rather than in production. Why should the hardware industry be any different? Isn't hardware design an endlessly difficult and varied problem, just like software?

Out of curiosity, exactly what would you say about GW "deniers" if their skepticism eventually proves correct?

Your comments remind me of the famous quote by George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Or as I would put it, if RMS is the backbone of the free software world, it is more important that he be stiff than that he be flexible.

I agree. What you are suggesting seems to be a variation on the law of diminishing returns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns).

Clearly, once we accept the premise that it is in fact a suicide mission, it would be far more efficient to kill all the astronauts BEFORE launch and THEN shoot their dead bodies to Mars, leaving off all those unnecessary expenses for both heat and water...

Having considered the options presented here, I just thought of an alternative to college. Just imagine if the big tech companies got together and started their own online university solely devoted to STEM majors. That would include Microsoft, Google, Apple, IBM, Facebook, Yahoo!, etc. In between them they are sitting on more than $100 billion of cash, which is enough to start an Ivy-league university of their own. They could disrupt higher education and supply themselves with plenty of STEM graduates that meet their needs as employees, in addition to funding research through a college-like organization. They could work their way through the accreditation process so that it is a "real" degree and not just a collection of online classes. And they could make use of it for their own ongoing employee education. Just think of the possibilities...