The day a child runs out in a way the human behind a steering wheel is not able to react to due to their incompetence, blood alcohol levels, sleepiness, or distraction, there is always a tragedy.

This tragedy has nothing to do with whether a machine or a human is controlling the car. It's a tragedy of an unfortunate circumstance.

It is possible however that on an average the machine does better than or equal to a human. To determine if it is so, it requires testing. Which is being done. So what exactly is the problem? Why do you assume that the human level of intelligence is the end-all and be-all of doing everything? Time and again it has been demonstrated that human intelligence is biased towards certain kinds of tasks. And it is debatable if driving is one of those, considering it is something humans have started doing only in the last 150 years or so at most.

"Anyone visiting websites for emo teens will be fined for self-inflicted depression that taxes the entire public health care system."

What bullshit thoughts does Sarkozy have in his brain now?

Why is it confusing ?

You can file a complaint against any an individual in the police force of any nation, and the police force of that nation has the right to make arrests if that individual is on their soil.

In the case of Megaupload, a US Federal Prosecutor filed that said complaint in New Zealand, providing evidence of international crimes. The FBI then filed for extradition of the accused in New Zealand. There was a court hearing in New Zealand, which approved the extradition.

Just because the newspapers report in colloquial language and say "upon the FBI's request" , it doesn't mean due procedure is not followed. Of course, the gist of it is still that he was arrested due to a request by the US authorities.

Incorrect. The Geneva conventionS (there is more than 1), consider these to be a breach of the conventions:
        willful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including biological experiments
        willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
        compelling someone to serve in the forces of a hostile power
        willfully depriving someone of the right to a fair trial if accused of a war crime.

Also considered grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention are the following:

        taking of hostages
        extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly
        unlawful deportation, transfer, or confinement.

So no. Freezing of assets is a perfectly humane way of dealing with a flight risk.

But soon they will. In Germany, public transport, supermarkets, any shops and restaurants will accept a debit card under a uniform debt card system called EC (Electronic Cash).

The only thing one does need cash is for microtransactions - very small purchases from kiosks or coffee shops (Upto 5 Euro). Low adoption there seems to be primarily because the debt card-pin-receipt printing method is significantly slower than just dropping a euro coin for a beer. However, I believe as the speedier near-field technologies like Google Wallet catch up, cash will be a thing of the past.

Disclaimer : This is a comment on the practical usage of cashless payment systems. This is not a comment on private or government monitoring of transactions, your personal opinion on Google's monopoly and threat to the free market, or about how things are better in Europe, or about whether you personally feel that the time required to pay by debt card is not a big deal and how we are 'oh so entitled' because we want to save the 60 seconds.

Edward Teller was just projecting the attitude of his time - an attitude based on economic theories stating that human society functions in a way where it's 'every man for himself'.

The RAND Corporation militarized this idea, and the nuclear arms race began as a solution to what was seen as a 'game of chicken', when in fact , it was Prisoner's dilemma.

Fortunately, we live in a time when this doctrine has been shown to be false and altruism has received better appreciation.

Yes, and the author of TFA acknowledges that as much by showing the Photoshop splash screen as a badge of shame.

Such as for example, spectral camouflage. Any method that depends on identifying spectra of compounds in a complex mixture depends on spectral deconvolution. Spectral deconvolution is easy to fool, but adding a compound that provides a "difference spectrum" , compensating for the differences in tobacco versus marijuana smoke.

Your knowledge of India-US geopolitics, is tentative at best. As an example from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_States_relations ,

"According to some analysts, India-U.S. relations have strained over Obama administration's approach in handling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[15][16] India's National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, criticized the Obama administration for linking the Kashmir dispute to the instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan and said that by doing so, President Obama was "barking up the wrong tree".[17] The Foreign Policy too criticized Obama's approach towards South Asia saying that "India can be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem" in South Asia and suggested India to take a more proactive role in rebuilding Afghanistan irrespective of the attitude of the Obama administration.[18] In a clear indication of growing rift between India and the U.S., the former decided not to accept a U.S. invitation to attend a conference on Afghanistan.[19] Bloomberg reported that since 2008 Mumbai attacks, the public mood in India has been to pressure Pakistan more aggressively to take actions against the culprits behind the terrorist attack and this might reflect on the upcoming general elections in May 2009. Consequently, the Obama administration may find itself at odds with India's rigid stance against terrorism.[20]

Robert Blake, assistant secretary of United States' Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, dismissed any concerns over a rift with India regarding United States' AfPak policy. Calling India and the United States "natural allies",[6] Blake said that the United States cannot afford to meet the strategic priorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan at "the expense of India".[21]"

So who exactly wants to be friends here? And yes, there is corruption. Yes, there are safety issues. But these exist mainly for lower income groups in India. I am not saying this is an acceptable, but the fact is that the upper-middle and upper classes in India is doing fantastically well, enjoying a standard of living in some ways higher than that in the Western world. And ex-pirate bay admins, in all likelihood , easily fit in the upper middle class (at least) in India.

You don't have to go that far. Countries like India, China, Russia cover a very large area of the world , and these three have a history of not putting up with U.S.- , well B.S.

It is unlikely, for example that Sweden , the EU, or the US would be able to make India extradite them even if they were caught - and India is a big country to get lost in.

*facepalm*

Thank you GP, I see you your point now.

Actually, although Kapil Sibal is democratically elected, this seems to be his own idea. I am Indian, and currently visiting Mumbai. The amount of backlash he is getting from the Indian public is astonishing. Nearly all media is heavily criticising him for this move.

This is not a popularly supported move. And it will go away. Nothing to see , move along.

F-14? God, its 2011....upgrade to the F-22 already!

Right. I can even believe in that in sheer number of interacting components (albeit of different sorts), my computer is as complicated as an airplane.

But you, as a System Administrator, are not re-etching its transistors. IT is the ATC, airport and related infrastructure. Users are pilots. I understand that the airport has to regulate what pilots do for everyone's safety and efficient functioning. It is the hubris , where the ATC staff decides it knows more about the aircraft than the pilot or the Aeronautical engineer, which leads to the tension - exactly as in your post.

Yes, I know it goes both ways - pilots shouldn't be telling you guys when to wash the runway - but if he tells you he sees blue lights better than yellow lights for a night time landing, you should spare a thought.

Whatever it is, I give them props for trying to solve this in the most honest, transparent way possible and remaining open to being wrong. They're exemplifying "good" scientific method and that makes them more credible to begin with.