Democracy is most effective in small groups. This is a strongly mitigating factor. The smaller the group, the more powerful each of its constituents. As it stands, Occupy Wall Street is too large for direct democracy, but everyone wants to keep the group together that is why representative measures have been enacted.

Why was this not addressed? The question posed by vlm seemed to be dodged.

Judging from what I've seen, netbooks have not come along enough to render multiple processes and active web content, let alone HD web content. That would make it useful for most users. The unique netbook processor is not yet a potential threat. Wait until the next gen comes - hopefully with extremely low voltage (RISC or something of the like) and decent graphics. I wouldn't hold my breath though. 10" or over is definitely the functional realm for netbooks. Assuming word processing or similar tasks and web browsing. Seamless mulitasking is essential for today's comp users. I await the day when every house has a media server, and every occupant has a smart phone, netbook and game-capable machine. Hope it happens before humanity screws itself.

How much does it cost (not only monetarily) to make, and maintain, and industrialize, etc. the femtosecond laser?