> If it was "noise" then you wouldnt need to expain yourself.

Right, you ask for a larger explanation and then turn around and use that as a new grounds for your complaint.

Really?

I did not need to do anything, I did you a service by spending a bunch of time. You could have just as easily educated yourself on the subject.

> but the Stasi, et al, ARE the modern cloud.

No, they are not, not even close. Having dealt with the Stasi at two occasions I guarantee you that they are not the same.

> Does the consumer USE the service and not bitch?'== good actor in your world view

You must have missed my writings on Google 'AMP' then if you think that is my position. So no, you are simply wrong here.

> I want to walk under a natural realm not covered by .gov satellites

So change your government and use your vote. Educate your fellow voters and hold your politicians accountable.

> and invisible computers/sensors watching my every move

Paranoid much?

> to make sure I am staying "within the rules".

You mean like speed cameras? I can't stand them, especially not when they result in fines. Better still, in spite of all the cameras on our highways car theft is still a problem. So my conclusion - for now - is that unfortunately the system works as intended, well enough for me to get caught speeding, not so well that a car thief can't make his getaway.

> Such environs become plastic at the point where I cannot ensure complete privacy

There are plenty of places where you can have complete privacy and most likely will always be able to have complete privacy. But this will come at a cost: you most likely will have to make a conscious effort at this, it will not be automatic.

> (I wonder why the elite build underground???)

Tell me, why do they? Again, paranoid much? The 'elite' do not as far as I know build underground.

> We imagined it -- that which we imagined is made manifest.

So, you'll have to imagine something better. If all you can see is bad stuff to come out of tech then this discussion is utterly pointless. You and a lot of people here have the collective power to steer these things and to re-imagine them in a positive way rather than to hand the keys to the weapons locker to your boss for a paycheck. Ethics matter.

> "easier" does NOT mean accessible -- Sure it may be easy to get an education at an extremely high level, assuming you have the -rereqs "BUILD MORE PYLONS" -- yeah - tell some unknown genius from rural wherever that education is easy... that's different than ACCESS GRANTED to said education.

We'll have to disagree on this.

> You're an accomplished, privileged, educated, great person...

Oh is that so?

> so why cant the gulley-dwarf pull himself up buy-his-mud-straps?

Well, I was one of those gulley-dwarfs when I started out and between the public library and a pretty heavy physical job I managed to claw my way out of what would have otherwise been either poverty or crime. So much for your assumptions.

> Where did you get such to save???

The mail room of a bank. You know, hauling mailbags heavier than I was.

> How did you eat if you were instead saving????

Mostly very cheap pasta and peanut butter sandwiches.

> (Poor people, without access to resources, cannot even begin to understand the idea of "saving" when they cant defer EATING to save...)

Right. Well, again, at the time and given my knowledge of my surroundings I was relatively poor. But at the same time I'm well aware that being born in the country I was in was a very high degree of privilege. But don't come to me with your 'accomplished, privileged, educated' bs because that came at a pretty high price.

> So, show me how the browser shall save the educational aspirations to those without food, water and power.

You must have missed Africa coming online in the last decade and the kind of change it is bringing.

If you're in a dark mood of sorts I'm fine with that but the one thing you can't argue with if you want to stick to the facts is that the internet has enabled a very large number of people to either get or improve on their education.

For me the greatest achievements of the internet are the Khan Academy and Wikipedia, the runner up after those would be the Gutenberg project. Open access is changing the world as we speak.