Besides, not all of us are from the US...
Until I read that I had no idea that "vim" was defined as such: vim -noun lively or energetic spirit; enthusiasm; vitality
I think that's wrong. Energy independence is a fine issue, but I believe that the new government should pay as much interest to the real advances in science that are coming.
The internet has opened up a new frontier for science. Not the little toys that allow you locate your friends on your mobile phones, but the more fundamental changes - milions of people can work on the same thing at the same time, knowledge can be available to everyone at no cost, communication can happen globally without any problem, and hardware is cheap and fast.
What this means is that humanity is about to make a new intellectual leap forward. It's not there yet because the tools are not yet available that actually allow it work efficiently, but facebook and future generations of such connectivity tools will make it possible.
When these methods are applied to biology or robotics, the combined intellectual avility of human beings made lead to some type of exponential effect that will finally allow us create things that we cannot dream of yet.
We are standing on the chasm of the unknown. We should be forging forward, looking for new things, not focusing on that that we know.
It's an adventure like the adventure of first flight. Governments should recognize this, and they should focus on non-commercial research that will take us to where we could be.
For anyone who appreciates good writing, their Style Guide is invaluable: http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/
While I don't care to debate Obama's policies in this forum I would like to point out that advances in battery technology will help with both the foreign energy issue and many of the technological issues you mention. There is also the issue of powering the countless servers that are used.
"This journal does not have a vote, and does not claim any particular standing from which to instruct those who do. But if it did, it would cast its vote for Barack Obama."
Would any other respected British publications like to chime in?
If you can't beat them, join them, I guess:
http://www.economist.com/help/DisplayHelp.cfm?folder=663377#...
I'm not saying that energy as a technological focus is wrong. But there are things that are closer to my heart - like robots. It's expensive and time consuming to develop a robot more advanced that what currently exists. The companies do it, but they think of their commercial gain first. Government should also have labs which does research this area, and there should be a reasonable amount of focus there.
Here's hoping the Republicans keep 41 seats in the Senate, or else the economy restrains the Democrats from doing too much damage in their likely unopposed 2 years in power.
And I don't think a marginal few $ billion from Washington will do much good in this area. If it did, we'd all be driving around in the Hydrogen powered cars that Bush and Clinton lavished such unimaginable sums on.
What they really are is liberal in the original 19th century sense of the word. I.e. Whigs.
I also think that the focus for alternative energy as a primary mission will really alleviate the traditional hurdle of infrastructure or critical mass requirements: instead of just dropping the technology as before, people will start considering them seriously.
OTOH, I'm a huge optimist and fan of this candidate, so take everything I say with a huge grain of salt. :-)
One guy writes the motion detectors, another writes the pan-tilt, everyone reviews everyone elses code and suggests improvements. If this were effective today, we could have giant leaps forward. Soon it willl happen.
That pretty much sums up why I ended up voting for Obama. McCain of 2008 != McCain of 2000, and the Presidential race was the lesser for it.
As usual the Economist says little with a lot of words. This particular piece is a shallow recitation of campaign impressions with zero actual policy analysis. You don't learn anything by reading it.
To quote its Wikipedia article, 'The publication boasts a tight writing style that seeks to include the maximum amount of information in a limited space. Atlantic Monthly publisher David G. Bradley described the formula as "a consistent world view expressed, consistently, in tight and engaging prose."[12]' -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist
http://www.unilever.ca/ourbrands/homecare/vim.asp
It's time for Conservative America to clean house. Where did it go wrong? Entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts should be falling over themselves to vote Republican. Speaking from the outside, it looks to me like the Republicans are on the verge of losing a generation of its strongest natural supporters.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/why-i-support-barack-obama....
I mean seriously guys, I come to YC News to avoid the blasting of politics I get on any other website.
I read The Economist because I don't always have time to read entire articles about every little development on every issue. How many New York Times articles would you have had to read to gain as much information as from this one Economist piece?
Again, what would you have us read instead?
> what would you have us read instead?
Off the top of my head Stratfor covers similar territory as the economist, but much better. It also has its biases. For economic analysis John Maudlin's newsletters aren't a bad place to start. Go read one and see how much more information and analysis dense it is compared to the economist.
In modern American history warmongering has overwhelmingly been the business of the left. Guns and butter and all that. Go count up military actions and pair them to presidents.
American turning it self into a third world country, I'd suggest you look up what exactly a third-world country is.
By Electing a man "Barack Obama" who straight out supporting KNowN Terrorist, this is just a Fact now No he hasn't.
Los Angeles Times has a video of Barack obama supporting a torrorist and toasting him, on Video Not quite, no.
To many facts there, THe left wing like Pelosi and many other Or trying to stop this tape from getting out, No, they haven't. If you mean Bill Ayers, Obama has addressed this matter specifically. He's hiding nothing.
If it was Hillary or JOhn McCain, you can rest assure this tape would already be out, But more facts MSM is suppressing this video, The video that has been on every news network? MSNBC had a story specifically about this.
Like so many third world Dictators in other country, Who control the Media, CNN, MSnbc , los angeles times, New york times, So many other Medias Yet... when people write good things about McCain, that's considered free speech? What?
WHo trying to elect a Man who supports Terrorist, Barack Obama, Still no.
No one calling Barack a terrorist, but he sure does support them, No he doesn't.
His Track record is sure proving this, ,, Rev Wright, Ayers, Rezko Barack Obama sure love surrounding his self with Crminals, Despite the Ayers claims being thoroughly debunked? Or the Rezko incident being entirely minimal? Or do you mean Wright, who Obama not only denounced but whom - in my opinion - actually made a good set of points in his speech?
Hitler started out this way, Going after the simple Young crowd, to elect them,,then after he is elected its to late, the country in turmoil, and lost, History has proven this, Every politician uses the same tactics. Lincoln did this. Washington did this. Sometimes people elected in times of crisis do good things.
Why do you think Barack Obama created his own Seal, You mean the seal of Ohio, which looks like an O?
Why do you think he is trying to make this country a Socialist country, By supporting the same progressive taxes McCain is on the record as supporting?
ALL the signs are there, Bias Media, criminal as friend, Huh. Sounds a lot like McCain and Fox.
the man has no real agenda The man with a 200-page documented agenda? Or McCain, whose entire site is becoming an Anti-Obama site with nothing Pro-McCain on record?
and for the simple fact, Barack Obama has his Own News Station, to get the lies out there,, THat News Station is Msnbc, Followed by CNN, the 2 most bias News media stations, Hmm. I remember an article saying Fox was the "most bias News."
by next year after Obama is elected, American will be in a Depression there will be food line, TO SHARE THE WEALTH, SURE SOUND LIKE RUSSIA TO ME, DONT THIS SOUND VERY FAMILIAR!!!!!
Sounds kind of like FDR, the man who helped push America back in shape. I mean, Bush caused this depression.
But enough argument. You're not looking for argument. You're looking for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. You are scum. You are below awful. You're the man that makes the world worse. Flagged, and I'll be ashamed if you're still allowed to comment on this site after pulling shit like this.
Historically, groundbreaking scientific work has been done by one or a few extraordinary individuals (Einstein, Watson and Crick), and groundbreaking engineering work has been done by carefully selected groups led by an extraordinary individual (Oppenheimer, von Braun). I don't see how the Internet changes that.
Wasn't Johnson the one that escalated the war in Vietnam?