What would be the first sign of the AI takeover? I keep thinking what if the AI decides to "take over". Would it be a smooth and seamless transfer, by AI manipulation? Or would it be a quick takeover, and fast march towards who knows what?!

I don't usually get baited, but this is one I have to take. To suggest that Trump is the only one to solve the problem is, in my humble opinion, about as ignorant as it gets! The problem is the completely unregulated accumulation of wealth and power. Corporate interests and the desire for profit (presumably to satisfy the shareholders) are solely responsible for the decimation of the middle class. Trump is part of the problem, and the fact that people don't get that, and continue to be self abusive in their voting pattern (i.e. vote republican), by voting against their own interest is the real problem. How can it be that otherwise intelligent people think that voting for Trump will help is beyond me.

I support Bernie Sanders.

Supporting Trump is just idiotic.

I always thought that beer made me a better coder, and now here is the proof!! Woo Hoo!!

Actually, there were even more issues than that at the time. I invented Webzine back in 1998, and managed to build a production ready version named ProGear by 2001 (with Inventec), and we had issues with storage and broadband access. We take for granted cellular broadband, and flash memory, but they were expensive and not widely available back then. Sure, I used a 4 wire resistive, but I was never able to find a multi-touch screen. And the displays were the most expensive component in the BOM. At 100,000 unit quantities, a 10" 1024x768 TFT was almost $300! We couldn't get the BOM for ProGear below $800. That is what made it ahead of it's time, the tech was not there and or too expensive. We solved the power/processor problem with aTransmeta processor, and we did many things right: Linux Based, Portrait mode, ProGear was predominantly a hardware web browser, not a laptop with no keyboard. We also had character recognition, built-in WiFi, and a content storage system (using a laptop HDD) to enable browsing stored web content when not connected to WiFi. Like I said, before Cellular broadband AND Wifi Hotspots...

But if they can reach across the ether and brick it, and get away with it, do you really own it?

how much anyone actually "owns" a cell phone.

I am an Obama supporter, and I don't agree with all that he has done. That said, I will continue to support him, especially into the next election, because the horror of more trickle-down policies is to great for me (or the USA) to bear.
Having said that, it is not surprising that the secrecy continues. I always wondered why the DOD got rid of Selective Availability in GPS systems. They now allow anyone to have pin-point accuracy. Why? The answer has to be that they have WAY more advanced stuff up their collective sleeves. The same is true in this case. The US gov is capable of things that we are completely unaware of. 9/11 changed things, and I find it interesting to watch the give and take between privacy and security. It is not possible to have 100% security without giving up 100% of our privacy. The wiretaps represent some kick-ass technology that would scare the pants off most people, so better to keep the capability under wraps and take the heat. The difference between wiretaps under Bush and wiretaps under Obama, I think, are obvious, and I will tend to trust Obama allot more than Bush in this regard. Besides, it's not like there's anything we can do about it, other than bitch and moan and polarize ourselves more...