I was restricting my comment to the North American market, which was as I described. I agree 100% about Blake's 7. British television was far in advance of what we had over here. All in the Family and Sanford & Son, for example, were less edgy adaptations of English TV comedies.

Buddy...when the original Star Trek ran, it was a different world, especially in the case of what was allowed on television. The bedrooms of married couples showed twin beds. The first interracial kiss in US television history occurred on Star Trek, and that episode was banned across much of the South. Women were not considered worthy of positions of authority, especially if it included having authority over men. It was literally a different world. Until the advent of Star Trek, "science fiction" on television consisted of simple-minded fantasy series like Lost In Space, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, etc. Tropes such as faster-than-light travel and interstellar conflict, which Babylon 5 relied upon, barely existed before Star Trek. Even sub-plots that carried on for whole seasons were rare. Episodes were expected to stand alone.

Let me put it this way: The original Star Trek swam in very different waters than Babylon 5, and it changed the rules in ways that allowed Babylon 5 to be what it was (which was excellent, by the way).

I wonder if a better answer to the lack of organs suitable for transplant might be to direct more resources toward research into cloning a patient's heart or liver or kidney for subsequent transplant. I realize there's a huge difference between sausages made from vat-grown meat and growing somebody a new kidney, but I just can't get past the advantages at the other end if we figured it out. I'm talking about growing an individual organ, by the way, not cloning a human to be looted for replacement organs.

"Israeli first Zionist"? Sanders? You are so completely full of shit you're on a level with Trump's diaper.

As somebody once said, "If I won $30 million, I'd spend half of it on hookers and coke. The rest, I'd just waste".

"We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way," [Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee] said in a statement. "We have already learned a tremendous amount."

I'd be delighted to learn a tremendous amount from NASA, and I'd be prepared to offer them my willingness to learn for maybe 10% of the $30 million they paid Katalyst.

A deal like that...how can NASA say no? I will wait with relaxed confidence by my desktop communications centre for their response to my generous offer.

The flaw here isn't that the software got it wrong, it's that a corporation is allowed to use it at all. What's next, cameras positioned to capture "legal" upskirt video because, of course, that's one of the best places for shoplifters to hide their stolen merchandise?

We need to let governments and corporations know that as citizens of a free country, we will not put up with mass surveillance backed by software that can track every individual person every moment of the time they are outside their homes, and even when they're inside them if somebody's interested enough.

What breaks privacy is the mass surveillance. EVERYBODY has their life recorded in detail. At best, all it takes is a friendly judge, and the police will be sticking their long, flexible noses into your business, and probably the business of your friends and relatives as well. But do you really think a nosy cop needs to run a plate? Existing software can track a car from the moment you park it in your driveway for the first time until the time you have it carted off for scrap.

"Taxi Drivers Rarely Die of Alzheimer's"

"It's usually the illegal left turns what does for 'em, guvnor!"

Except they've already been caught doing exactly this...and at the highest levels. I believe one of the law firms representing Trump (or maybe opposing him...I can't recall) got caught when it turned out the judge realized some of the cases being quoted were made up.

This isn't going to stop at call centres. If not today, then very soon, there will be nothing an experienced legal secretary and AI can't do that a junior lawyer can do...at a fraction of the cost. All that's needed (at least for now) is a mid-level lawyer to scan their output and sign off on it. If I were a couple of years away from a bar exam, I'd be wondering about my career choice.

If Meta is found guilty, a smaller financial penalty, but life in prison for Zuckerberg.

The message is clear. If you find a vulnerability, don't go to a tech bro, hat in hand, hoping for a reward. Flog it on the dark web to the highest bidder.

You sound like a typical blowboy for Corporate Socialism. Social Darwinism for the masses, welfare handouts for the corporations.

The irony is that before the internet, it was a lot more difficult to find plans for building a guillotine.