"t a better system has yet to be developed. "

That depends on how one defines and measures "better", doesn't it?

Or: "Hmm. What constituency is most likely to be loose with their money?"

" fortunately it may actually work."

That's great news! Let's see your math.

I actually read it at exactly the right time, maybe I was around 14-15 years old. Helped me put some things in context and get some good priorities in life, helped me get where I am now.

"Single shot, nobody will know."

The bullet will land somewhere. For most of us, the bullet's landing site will be a high-density residential area that's not our own back yard.

"Someone hacks the server..."

Securing authentication servers isn't a new problem. User authentication on headless devices is.

The problem the article identifies is when someone loses their watch. Your suggestion authenticates the watch, but what really needs to be authenticated here is the user.

Probably he is, quietly. He's never really been a publicity seeker.

"Voters are often idiots though."

Of course we are. Or more generously, we're not all qualified to govern, we have other trades. That's why we have a Republic, with representatives to figure out the governing stuff for us.

Nearly all of us have somewhere in our circle of known people somebody we consider wiser than us in such matters, who we'd be happy to have represent our interests in government.

There are just two problems. The ratio of citizens to congressmen has gone from a max of 60,000:1 to today's approximately 700,000:1. There used to be a possibility to personally know the representative, and regardless it wasn't that hard to meet with him. Now you might get a minute to talk with him during his election campaign or the county fair if you try real hard.

The other problem is the one Lessig discusses. Realistically, we don't get to nominate our representatives, we only get to vote from among the nominees that monied interests pre-selected for us.

So no, we can't vote in hard-working reformers, because even if reformers could attract some funding from the grassroots, even if we managed to elect one or two, the installed base of legislators and executives alike are already bought and paid for, and they stymie any reform. How much did Ron and Rand Paul accomplish - do we audit the Federal Reserve? Did they stop warrantless citizen surveillance? How much have Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren changed the system? How's McCain - Feingold campaign finance reform going?

Voters are not in charge. Never in our lifetime have they been.

bughunter's link is good, it leads to the URL I meant to include

"Politicians are a reflection of voters"
+1 Funny

What they tell you on your cereal box isn't entirely accurate. If you can find 20 minutes every two years to go vote, perhaps you can also come up with 20 minutes once in your life to watch this TED talk by Lawrence Lessig and learn how american electoral politics really works.

"If everybody gets to live a very long time, then we run out of resources"

And then not everybody would get to live very long. Nature can be postponed, but eventually she has her say.

"The problem isn't the quantity of food. It's distribution."

In other words, lots of people don't have enough food. And if this were the Star Trek universe, they wouldn't be starving.

What society considers morally reprehensible would probably change to fit the new reality.

"All. The. Time." is not the same thing as the Olympics.

We all know that biologically, men tend to be more muscular than women.

If a woman can't qualify, so be it. But if she can, why refuse the opportunity?