As an aspiring game developer, I look at Valve's actions with a lot of excitement lately. Steam and Source are coming to Mac for sure now, and so that means Source SDK should be updated to support deployment to Macs. If Linux is included in this package, it only sweetens the deal. For developers just getting started, Source would have a unique advantage over the other engines available currently (e.g. Unreal, Crytek) in that it would allow developers to reach as wide an audience as possible. I really hope this happens.

I agree that there is most likely some other factor involved. Correlation does not equal causation in this case. That is to say, yes, people tend to reach their intellectual peak at 22, and start waning by 27. However, the reason for why it does this has not been touched upon at all at this point.

It could for example, have nothing to do with natural aging, but have everything to do with the fact that most people are out of college by then and working. If you're not exercising your mental muscles by constantly learning new things, of course you're going to get dumber.

I wonder if it's the exact same commercial they play on the radio here in LA. It's some guy speaking casually in a baritone voice. He says that there's good news and bad news, blah blah blah, sarcastically remarks on how the increasing gas prices are "more good news at the pump" and at the end, says the good news is, we get to vote on the bill.

I just remember upon my first time hearing it, the whole thing smacked of a phony ploy by oil companies to keep screwing us in the ass with a smile.

So if someone duplicates you.. which one is really you? what happens to your sense of continuity?

Unless you believe that consciousness is a spiritual (as opposed to physical) phenomenon, they should BOTH be exactly you. And nothing at all should happen to your sense of continuity because the process would duplicate the past experience in your brain right up to the point of duplication.

Of course this all assumes that the duplication process is absolutely perfect, which is hard to imagine ;) Peace.