It's doing quite well at the bottom right now.

Instead of some lazy bums that hang around coffee shops, refusing to work and just sitting around, writing pamphlets. True Marxism would have handed him a broom and dustbin. And told him that this section of sidewalk was his responsibility.

"What do you mean, 'your hour of work is more valuable than that of the next peasant?' Sweep!"

A classless (true communist) society can't scale up beyond Dunbar's Number. They do work for groups like communes and small, isolated villages. Where everyone knows everyone else, what their skills are and who is/isn't getting work done. The latter are usually banished from the community, either returning the miscreant to "outside society" (this presumes the existence of an outside society willing to deal with your screw-ups). Or accepting the fact that the banished will probably be eaten by wild animals.

Once Dunbar's Number is exceeded, one needs some sort of bureaucracy to manage societal organization. One can't depend on markets, because that wouldn't be "fair". Someone with valuable skills could demand more than the average peasant, undermining the whole equity shtick. Likewise, resources (the means of production) must be managed by this bureaucracy. Since leaving decisions to the market would have workers with little/no skills under-funded. Again, "equity" rears its ugly head.

So, we need this bureaucracy. Made up of the self-appointed intellectuals. To "manage things". This creates a scramble to the top of the intellectual pile, lest you be left behind among the filthy proletariat to do actual work. Hence the tooth and nail fight to make it to the top of that pile. Which works until a government stabilizes under the winner of the scrum. Then, to protect themselves, the winner(s) must eliminate the also-rans. Much as Stalin purged anyone he felt to be a threat to his position. Or Richard III burying the princes that could challenge him in the walls of The Tower of London.

Market economies (capitalism) allow me to "own the means of production", but leave the wisdom of the masses to reward those with the best foresight. There is no "leader" or opinion-makers to self identify as having better brains than the others. If you are really smart, you'll 1) pick the winners and invest. And 2) keep your mouth shut about your big brains, lest the competition tries to front-run your strategies.

Someone figured out that socialism means you have to work. Even in a Star Trek economy, someone has to wear the red shirt.

So, how much for heated seats?

Let them come. The socialists have been heralding the post scarcity society. The Star Trek economy is approaching and the left is terrified. Seems someone just told them that the hammer and sickle symbolize labor.

Oblig joke: Computer scientists were putting the finishing touches on their first fully intelligent machine. Once booted up, they decided to test it with deeply philosophical question: "Is there a God?"

"There is now."

Are you certain that there's no one to the left of zero? I'd beg to differ.

Stack Overflow

... AI and robots, this is how you get AI and robots.

Do you think that might be due, in part to the style of comedy presentation? The Sam Kinisons and Bobcat Godthwaits screaming at the audience might trigger the overly sensitive. Compare them to comedians like Bob Newhart or Steven Wright. Not "over the edge" types.

I think written humor falls into the second category. You read as much slapstick, physicality and emotion into the text as you want. A lot of British humor seems to be based on "misreading" of cues or interpretation. The infamous, "Does your dog bite?" "That is not my dog."

Raspberry Pis often can be had as board only. And if one is building some sort of data acquisition system or device controller, the board is easily built into the same box as the device.

Humor works.

Unless your subject is autistic. Then they just don't get it and they mod you down .....

Nice. But how much of that is paying for the case and power supply?

Somewhat the same as in the USA. Power wheeling charges were inconsistent and often negotiated bilateraly between neighboring utilities. Energy flow was handled within vertically integrated utilities. From their generators through their transmission grid to their customers.

This is all changing. But the side effect will be that all the solar farms way off in the desert will have to pay a bill to get their energy to customers. And another bill to have an intermediating utility store it for them. The days of the newly deregulated markets like California and Enron are gone. Where someone can just hook generation to "the grid" and make bundles of money. Profits will be eaten up by distance and capital costs.

I'd love to. But I can't get the neighbor to cut down his trees. Not that they're all bad. They provide good shade in the summer and reduce AC demand.