I respect your idealistic view, but unfortunately we live in the real world where deadlines exist.

Javascript is a deceptively elegant and flexible language. You should try it sometime.

The most interesting part of this story is that no one cares

this is actually a good idea from a developer point of view. I'm going to use that philosophy for the next progress bar I write

And I'm sure I'm not the only one to have said this by now, but adding a very accurate progress bar is a lot of f'ing work, with all the multi-threading and actual decisions on where 1% progress actually is when you're running through code. Should we use just the use of the line of code divided by the total lines? What do you do if the progress bar can actually slow down the processing in the first place? Would the user rather wait longer and see a progress bar or just get it over with? Programming is an art form in many ways. There is no formula to this stuff.

No, I am right that there are no national laws defining minimum wage as a specific number in Finland. The law only says that companies have to stick to the amount agreed upon in the union bargaining agreement. That's still the free market. And the per capita GDP has nothing to do with average income dude. That's just GDP/#citizens. Look up the definition of GDP. I just assumed you were right about income cuz you were on slashdot. fool me once I guess

You are just continuing to prove my point. You cite countries like Finland who have chosen to do the opposite of what you propose and let the free markets decide wages rather than let the government impose its will to create this utopia. Everything you've talked about have been examples of capitalism at its best, yet you think that government can create laws that will change American culture, which is really what you're railing against. I agree that unions have been bastardized in the US at the detriment to themselves, but there are many examples, like coal miners, where non-union workers are actually paid more than their union counterparts. If anything, you are complaining about unfair influence that business has on our politicians that get short-sighted people into office to do their bidding, and I totally agree with you on that. But that's not the fault of capitalism, its the fault of voters.

It's funny that you mention Finland, because they don't have a mandated minimum wage. What I don't understand is how you think that someone who has put his or herself through college on their own dime, taking risks and working hard, should be paid as much as a dishwasher at Denny's who dropped out of high school. AND I don't understand why you think that the dishwasher at Denny's is better off without a job at all because Denny's would go out of business if it had to pay him $25 an hour.

and 5 or 6 or more failed attempts at a mars probe launch, says my family member working at JPL. $25 an hour would decimate our services industry

If you're printing in color that often, then obviously lasers aren't cost effective or particularly up to the task. Inkjets produce color prints way better than consumer level laser printers. Any photographer knows that printing photos demands an inkjet, but for standard printing by 'casual' consumers, lasers are a better buy hands down.

While I think your post was awesome and Tesla was way ahead of his time, I have to say that it's also entirely possible that we have obtained all the low hanging fruit after an explosion of knowledge following WW2. The answers we are now searching for like fusion, the origin of mass, artificial intelligence, and nano-biology, are extremely complicated and/or very expensive. We might have just gone through a Precambrian-like burst of knowledge to be followed by a rebuilding phase. Human's are smart, but this stuff is hard.

We are still waiting for our hoverboard

What you just described sounds like way more work than ordering $40 toner cartridges every couple years.

Whenever friends or family ever ask me about upgrading their computer and/or their life, my responses progress in this order: 1) Get the biggest monitor you can afford and while you're at it, buy two 2) Buy a damn laser printer

The fact that the free market (i.e. the number of votes on a slashdot poll) can recognize that spending more upfront for a laser printer saves you stress, annoyance and literally hundreds of dollars over a 5 years period has restored my faith in capitalism.