Seems like every day or so, Slashdot has to remind me how I severely underestimating the stupidity of people when I first found out about Bitcoin. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, who would actually be stupid enough to pay real money for digital coins?", I thought to myself.
Of course, a metric fuckton of people listen to Justin Bieber, too, so I should've realized a lot of people would fall for this moronic ponzi scam. I'm not sure of Bieber's popularity when Bitcoin was announced, so perhaps that's why it didn't dawn on me at the time.
But anyway, I'm not making the same mistake twice. I bet the Slashdot beta will be a fucking smash. No, not with the current crowd crowd of users, but with the Bitcoin loving, Justin Bieber listening crowd. Dice will make bank, I'm sure of it. Now, if only there was a way to cash in on this knowledge...
Once the most popular chat and dating site for gays and lesbians, gay.com launched a bad redesign to their site and their subscriber count never recovered. The redesign broke compatibility with all of the third party chat clients and the redesigned on-site chat was so unreliable when it launched that it sent most of their users running to competing chat/dating services. By the time most of the bugs were fixed, it was already too late - a fundamental paradigm shift had taken place, their users had switched to smartphone apps and no longer had much interest in sitting at home in front of a computer.
Had they brought the full functionality of their popular dating site to mobile devices, history may have played out differently. Instead, they launched a horribly broken desktop site and sealed their fate. Dice could learn a lot from this failure.
Slashdot has changed hands how many times over the years? This was bound to happen sooner or later. MySpace fell from grace in the eyes of their users and if that's the fate Dice has for Slashdot, so be it. One of the great things about the Internet has always been that a popular site's incompetence can easily be an up-and-coming site's opportunity. We don't search the web with Altavista and download music with Napster and the world isn't worse off for it. Slashdot has had a good run and if management doesn't want to listen, maybe it's just time to pass the torch...
What's worse is we push profitable drugs. I put myself on phenotropil (a high dose--people recognize the stimulant effect at 100mg, but reading ADHD
The "push" for any ADHD drugs comes from the medical community's belief that they may provide the opportunity for ADHD patients to lead a better life. The reality though, is that it's easier to push pills than accept the fact that someone with ADHD will learn differently, socialize differently and may not have the same range of employment opportunities as the majority of people in the first world. Of course, no one wants to hear something along the lines of "You're not cut out for college and should just take up a trade.", so the pills start a'popping.
Interestingly, some long term studies have shown that ADHD meds aren't exactly Felix Felicis. It seems your likelihood of being successful with ADHD is roughly the same, regardless of whether or not you take medication. Link
You might want to give some thought to what's wrong with a society that expects you to overclock your brain to keep up with it. Not everyone lives this way.
Since Google still seems to believe Glass has potential to be the "next big thing" and it's entirely voice controlled, it makes sense that they'd want a voice assistant that can respond more intelligently than "I don't have a clue what you're talking about, should I search the web?" Maybe this company's AI would be adaptable to something along those lines?
Personally, I'm not a big fan of talking to machines. Yeah, it looks awesome in sci-fi, but in real life it just makes you look like a hipster douchebag when you're out in public talking to the little robotic voice inside your mobile device.
Anyone think it's more than a little coincidental that Snowden seeks asylum in Russia and then some Russian hackers stole all that credit card data from Target? Knowledge of backdoors and security vulnerabilities is pretty much the NSA's mission statement. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he sold some information - the guy's gotta eat.
First the Death Clock is stolen from Futurama (Metalocalypse). Now Bachelor Chow? Why did they cancel the show if everyone is getting so much influence from it?
If you believe the billboards in the show, Bachelor Chow was improved at some point with flavor. This is more like the stuff in The Matrix.
Okay, in reality, there's probably some old obscure sci-fi book that came up with this idea waaaaaay before it was ever in a movie or TV show.
Sure, the major labels may love all the money they're getting, but they've squeezed all the profit out of the streaming companies. Free/cheap streaming music may not be long for this world once the venture capital runs out.
Time travel is also, so far as we know, impossible.
While bi-directional time travel to any point in history is likely impossible, there are more than a few organisms that can put themselves into stasis to essentially travel into the future. When we finally figure out how to do it with humans, time travel into the future will be quite possible - albeit a one way trip.
Second, you have the issue of "half a conversation" messing with your brain. Hearing another conversation isn't so bad, hearing only HALF the conversation (the guy on the phone) and your brain tries to piece together w t h they're talking about or what the person on the other-end-of-the-phone is saying. It's an automatic thing, so it adds to the annoyance.
It didn't seem to bother the millions who used Twitter prior to the addition of a "View conversation" feature.
Face it, being bothered by someone using a cell phone in public is pretty much just a sign that you're from an older generation. Just like how the older folks in the 60s felt that rock music was "evil". Yes, I'm old enough to remember when people sat down to dinner without constantly being distracted by Facebook/Twitter/texting. Younger millennials, however, grew up with this technology and don't feel like they're being rude because their peers are doing exactly the same thing.
Personally, the only times I've ever been genuinely annoyed with cell phone users were inconsiderate jerks who used Nextel PTT. Between the shrill chirping and the distorted loudspeaker, it seemed like those phones were intentionally designed to annoy everyone around you, so they'd have no doubt you were using Nextel. Of course, Sprint ran Nextel into the ground and the problem has since taken care of itself.
It's the same as the Steve Jobs hate. A CEO identified with a product some people can't afford. The hatred is envy.
If I had $70k in disposable income, I certainly wouldn't spend it on a car. There are better ways to spend the money if you're truly interested in reducing your carbon footprint. Musk makes it sound like if you buy his car and plug it into our filthy, over-half-fossil-fuels electrical grid, Captain Planet will personally come to your house and give you a blowjob. The reality is, the Model S is a toy for smug rich people who want to show off how much money they have and project an aura of giving a faux shit about the environment, at the same time. My hat's off to Musk for separating these people from their money, but I don't for a moment believe he's ever going to produce a car that the so-called 47% can actually afford. The single component that makes electric cars so damn expensive is the lithium ion cells and since Tesla just buys them "off the shelf" from existing battery manufacturers, they're not really doing any of their own research into making this critical, resource-intensive-to-construct component any less expensive for the masses.
This really sucks for the Android modding community, as these type of file hosting sites were really popular for sharing ROMs. What really surprises me is that there actually were enough fucktards sharing Hollywood shit through file hosting sites that the MPAA took notice. I thought anyone with half a brain used torrent sites (like piratebay) for movies/tv shows. Hotfile seemed more or less for sharing legitimate files. If they can be intimidated into shutting down, can Mediafire and Dropbox be far behind?
4. When sharing a road with other traffic, you are safer the closer you are in speed to that traffic. Electric assist can help an otherwise slow rider to be closer to the speed of other traffic.
In my lil' suburban neck of the woods, 20MPH won't even cut it driving through a residential neighborhood. People generally do 40MPH in the 30MPH zones and 45MPH means unless you're doing 50MPH, everyone and their cousin will pass you. In other words, whether you're puttering along at 20MPH or whatever speed you can manage under your own muscle power, you're still "that douchebag on a bicycle" who is holding up traffic.
Besides ending up all sweaty and being at the mercy of the weather, the major problem with commuting on a bicycle is constantly being mere inches away from a grisly steel death. At least if you're on a motorcycle, you're riding with traffic (and have ample horsepower in reserve to avoid an accident), rather than playing the odds that the driver of every single vehicle that passes you is paying enough attention not to hit you. Considering how many people screw with their smartphones while driving, you'd need a death wish to ride a bicycle on the road these days.
The issue most people have with riding a bicycle is that you're on a bicycle. This really isn't something the addition of a piddly little electric motor is going to fix. We already have mopeds, which are essentially just a bicycle with an extremely underpowered gasoline engine and they're still incredibly unpopular, because they're every bit as inconvenient and dangerous as a bicycle - you just don't have to pedal.
If you can afford an electric car, your budget likely isn't being squeezed by the cost of conventionally fuels. Those who actually would be helped substantially by the savings an electric car provides generally don't have the income and/or credit score to purchase a brand new electric vehicle. The other problems with electric vehicles:
Range - For the most part, you can drive a conventionally fueled vehicle so long as it's mechanically sound and has fuel. Trip from Florida to Alaska? No problem, so long as you remember to stop for gas.
Inconvenience - Forget to fill up your tank and you can solve the problem with a call to a friend (or a long walk) and 5 gallon fuel container. Forget to charge your EV and you need a tow, which is generally a lot more expensive than doing the walk of shame, to a gas station. You have to plan your trips around the level of charge in your car. Just got home from a road trip to your aunt Susy's and now the school is calling that your kid needs to be picked up because he puked his guts out? Sorry, little Jimmy, you'll have to wait while the car has enough capacity to make it to school and back home.
Electricity - Sure, it's cheaper than gas today, but what happens if electric cars started catching on? They'd have to build more coal and natural gas plants (there's still that pesky fear of nuclear and renewables aren't feasible everywhere) and everyone gets to pay for them in higher utility costs. See, very little petroleum (roughly 1%) is actually used for electricity generation, so a shift towards electric cars would actually just make gasoline and diesel cheaper, while every fucking thing you use electricity for becomes more expensive. Now, I'm sure the car buyer who walks past the Model S isn't worried about it costing twice as much to microwave a burrito or watch the Superbowl on his 60" TV, but it is still something to consider.
Battery lifespan - If the battery craps out, you could be on the hook for an extremely expensive repair. This will be a bigger problem in the future as more electric cars start entering the second-hand market.
Here in the USA, the grid is 68% fossil fuels. So unless Tesla is including a free ZPM with every purchase, "Zero Emissions" is a crock of shit, just like a 5.4 star safety rating.
Sure, the R&D payoff could be worth a fortune - but why bother when you can stick today's batteries in a fancy package and milk the rich now? Investors generally want a clear path towards profit and a business plan of "our scientists will dick around until they make a breakthrough at some indeterminate point in the future" doesn't inspire much confidence.
What's wrong with this guy. He keeps launching and suggesting new ideas every other week, without actually delivering something most of his fans are begging for.
That's what Elon sells - ideas. He sells the idea that if you buy his $70k car, you're doing a big part to help humanity move towards a more sustainable future. The reality is, lithium ion batteries are resource intensive to build and the electricity to charge it (in the USA) is 68% fossil fuel derived.
There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to electric powered everything. We already have a great understanding how to build an electric motor for any conceivable purpose. Where a breakthrough is really needed, is in the storing of electricity - that's what would enable Tesla (or any other car company) to release an inexpensive electric vehicle. The thing is, Elon is just going to sit on his ass and wait for someone else to make a breakthrough in less expensive batteries and then he'll announce a vehicle that incorporates it. Kinda like how Apple gets credit for all their "inventions".
Shit, even when you're broke there's always the dollar menu. I'd take McDonalds over a glass of snot, any day. I do have to wonder about his dating prospects. "Uh, hey baby, want to come back to my place and drink a glass of that food from The Matrix?" Yeah, that's a pickup line for the ages.
It's kinda like Star Trek. Live on a starship that seems like it's constantly under attack by hostile forces, put up with with condescending superior officers and any time you think you have something to contribute, you're told to shut up. The best part? You don't even get paid. While watching the show, I've often thought to myself "Why would anyone willingly subject themselves to this crap, when they could be back on Earth doing anything they can imagine inside a holodeck?"
Star Trek analogy aside, I can see how it might not be very appealing to learn how things work under the hood, when computing has basically been distilled down to a point-and-click world of "buy apps from the app store, run apps". As for those who do have the interest and aptitude for programming, perhaps they'd rather use their skills to put a few coins in their pocket? In this economy, can you really blame them?
All of the points you identify are in relation to the problems caused to drug users by drug laws , not by drug use.
Just because the negative aspects of illegal drug use are largely a result of anti-drug laws, doesn't make the consequences any less real. Is it smart to challenge authority? Sure, history might remember you if your success (or failure) is epic enough. But odds are, you won't be the next Ghandi, you'll just be the same Joe-Slightly-Above-Average, now with a criminal record.
Plus, since our political system is only mostly broken (kinda like the difference between "mostly dead" and "all dead"), there are plenty of ways to affect changes in the laws, without screwing yourself over in the process. Sure, it may take patience, but look how a "Don't care how, I want it now!" attitude worked out for Veruca Salt. Sure, she's a fictional character, but there's actually been studies proving that people who are willing to delay immediate gratification are generally more successful in life. It's not hard to see illegal drugs as analogous to "I want instant gratification, consequences be damned."
Little bit of alcohol and it's like insta-hangover for me. To make matters worse, I can't stand the vile taste of alcohol, no matter what it's mixed with. I used to think this was a bit of a curse considering how many social activities involve drinking, but with how expensive alcoholic beverages have become, maybe it's not so bad.
I was indifferent about YouTube until it inexplicably linked itself to my Gmail account and now wants me to create a Google+ page in order to comment on videos. Now, I'd like nothing more to see it go up in flames, like a Tesla that hit some road debris.
Having to deal with shady types to purchase drugs. You'll have less money to spend on other things (for example, taking a romantic interest on dates). Potential health risks due to tainted/contaminated/incorrect product. Reduced job opportunities due to drug testing policies. Legal risks that can destroy/limit your career and make relationships more difficult.
Clearly, IQ tests are missing something - because there's a lot more risk than reward when it comes to doing illegal drugs. Unless, higher IQ has some kind of correlation with self-destructive behaviors. Someone should look into that...
Slashdot Mirror
Seems like every day or so, Slashdot has to remind me how I severely underestimating the stupidity of people when I first found out about Bitcoin. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, who would actually be stupid enough to pay real money for digital coins?", I thought to myself.
Of course, a metric fuckton of people listen to Justin Bieber, too, so I should've realized a lot of people would fall for this moronic ponzi scam. I'm not sure of Bieber's popularity when Bitcoin was announced, so perhaps that's why it didn't dawn on me at the time.
But anyway, I'm not making the same mistake twice. I bet the Slashdot beta will be a fucking smash. No, not with the current crowd crowd of users, but with the Bitcoin loving, Justin Bieber listening crowd. Dice will make bank, I'm sure of it. Now, if only there was a way to cash in on this knowledge...
Once the most popular chat and dating site for gays and lesbians, gay.com launched a bad redesign to their site and their subscriber count never recovered. The redesign broke compatibility with all of the third party chat clients and the redesigned on-site chat was so unreliable when it launched that it sent most of their users running to competing chat/dating services. By the time most of the bugs were fixed, it was already too late - a fundamental paradigm shift had taken place, their users had switched to smartphone apps and no longer had much interest in sitting at home in front of a computer.
Had they brought the full functionality of their popular dating site to mobile devices, history may have played out differently. Instead, they launched a horribly broken desktop site and sealed their fate. Dice could learn a lot from this failure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...
Slashdot has changed hands how many times over the years? This was bound to happen sooner or later. MySpace fell from grace in the eyes of their users and if that's the fate Dice has for Slashdot, so be it. One of the great things about the Internet has always been that a popular site's incompetence can easily be an up-and-coming site's opportunity. We don't search the web with Altavista and download music with Napster and the world isn't worse off for it. Slashdot has had a good run and if management doesn't want to listen, maybe it's just time to pass the torch...
What's worse is we push profitable drugs. I put myself on phenotropil (a high dose--people recognize the stimulant effect at 100mg, but reading ADHD
The "push" for any ADHD drugs comes from the medical community's belief that they may provide the opportunity for ADHD patients to lead a better life. The reality though, is that it's easier to push pills than accept the fact that someone with ADHD will learn differently, socialize differently and may not have the same range of employment opportunities as the majority of people in the first world. Of course, no one wants to hear something along the lines of "You're not cut out for college and should just take up a trade.", so the pills start a'popping.
Interestingly, some long term studies have shown that ADHD meds aren't exactly Felix Felicis. It seems your likelihood of being successful with ADHD is roughly the same, regardless of whether or not you take medication. Link
You might want to give some thought to what's wrong with a society that expects you to overclock your brain to keep up with it. Not everyone lives this way.
Since Google still seems to believe Glass has potential to be the "next big thing" and it's entirely voice controlled, it makes sense that they'd want a voice assistant that can respond more intelligently than "I don't have a clue what you're talking about, should I search the web?" Maybe this company's AI would be adaptable to something along those lines?
Personally, I'm not a big fan of talking to machines. Yeah, it looks awesome in sci-fi, but in real life it just makes you look like a hipster douchebag when you're out in public talking to the little robotic voice inside your mobile device.
Anyone think it's more than a little coincidental that Snowden seeks asylum in Russia and then some Russian hackers stole all that credit card data from Target? Knowledge of backdoors and security vulnerabilities is pretty much the NSA's mission statement. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he sold some information - the guy's gotta eat.
First the Death Clock is stolen from Futurama (Metalocalypse). Now Bachelor Chow? Why did they cancel the show if everyone is getting so much influence from it?
If you believe the billboards in the show, Bachelor Chow was improved at some point with flavor. This is more like the stuff in The Matrix.
Okay, in reality, there's probably some old obscure sci-fi book that came up with this idea waaaaaay before it was ever in a movie or TV show.
Sure, the major labels may love all the money they're getting, but they've squeezed all the profit out of the streaming companies. Free/cheap streaming music may not be long for this world once the venture capital runs out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/business/media/a-stream-of-music-not-revenue.html
Time travel is also, so far as we know, impossible.
While bi-directional time travel to any point in history is likely impossible, there are more than a few organisms that can put themselves into stasis to essentially travel into the future. When we finally figure out how to do it with humans, time travel into the future will be quite possible - albeit a one way trip.
Apple basically threw away everything that made iOS look approachable and polished.
Second, you have the issue of "half a conversation" messing with your brain. Hearing another conversation isn't so bad, hearing only HALF the conversation (the guy on the phone) and your brain tries to piece together w t h they're talking about or what the person on the other-end-of-the-phone is saying. It's an automatic thing, so it adds to the annoyance.
It didn't seem to bother the millions who used Twitter prior to the addition of a "View conversation" feature.
Face it, being bothered by someone using a cell phone in public is pretty much just a sign that you're from an older generation. Just like how the older folks in the 60s felt that rock music was "evil". Yes, I'm old enough to remember when people sat down to dinner without constantly being distracted by Facebook/Twitter/texting. Younger millennials, however, grew up with this technology and don't feel like they're being rude because their peers are doing exactly the same thing.
Personally, the only times I've ever been genuinely annoyed with cell phone users were inconsiderate jerks who used Nextel PTT. Between the shrill chirping and the distorted loudspeaker, it seemed like those phones were intentionally designed to annoy everyone around you, so they'd have no doubt you were using Nextel. Of course, Sprint ran Nextel into the ground and the problem has since taken care of itself.
If they need a way to dispose of them after their unfortunate turbine encounter, I suggest to serve them up fried.
It's the same as the Steve Jobs hate. A CEO identified with a product some people can't afford. The hatred is envy.
If I had $70k in disposable income, I certainly wouldn't spend it on a car. There are better ways to spend the money if you're truly interested in reducing your carbon footprint. Musk makes it sound like if you buy his car and plug it into our filthy, over-half-fossil-fuels electrical grid, Captain Planet will personally come to your house and give you a blowjob. The reality is, the Model S is a toy for smug rich people who want to show off how much money they have and project an aura of giving a faux shit about the environment, at the same time. My hat's off to Musk for separating these people from their money, but I don't for a moment believe he's ever going to produce a car that the so-called 47% can actually afford. The single component that makes electric cars so damn expensive is the lithium ion cells and since Tesla just buys them "off the shelf" from existing battery manufacturers, they're not really doing any of their own research into making this critical, resource-intensive-to-construct component any less expensive for the masses.
This really sucks for the Android modding community, as these type of file hosting sites were really popular for sharing ROMs. What really surprises me is that there actually were enough fucktards sharing Hollywood shit through file hosting sites that the MPAA took notice. I thought anyone with half a brain used torrent sites (like piratebay) for movies/tv shows. Hotfile seemed more or less for sharing legitimate files. If they can be intimidated into shutting down, can Mediafire and Dropbox be far behind?
4. When sharing a road with other traffic, you are safer the closer you are in speed to that traffic. Electric assist can help an otherwise slow rider to be closer to the speed of other traffic.
In my lil' suburban neck of the woods, 20MPH won't even cut it driving through a residential neighborhood. People generally do 40MPH in the 30MPH zones and 45MPH means unless you're doing 50MPH, everyone and their cousin will pass you. In other words, whether you're puttering along at 20MPH or whatever speed you can manage under your own muscle power, you're still "that douchebag on a bicycle" who is holding up traffic.
Besides ending up all sweaty and being at the mercy of the weather, the major problem with commuting on a bicycle is constantly being mere inches away from a grisly steel death. At least if you're on a motorcycle, you're riding with traffic (and have ample horsepower in reserve to avoid an accident), rather than playing the odds that the driver of every single vehicle that passes you is paying enough attention not to hit you. Considering how many people screw with their smartphones while driving, you'd need a death wish to ride a bicycle on the road these days.
The issue most people have with riding a bicycle is that you're on a bicycle. This really isn't something the addition of a piddly little electric motor is going to fix. We already have mopeds, which are essentially just a bicycle with an extremely underpowered gasoline engine and they're still incredibly unpopular, because they're every bit as inconvenient and dangerous as a bicycle - you just don't have to pedal.
If you can afford an electric car, your budget likely isn't being squeezed by the cost of conventionally fuels. Those who actually would be helped substantially by the savings an electric car provides generally don't have the income and/or credit score to purchase a brand new electric vehicle. The other problems with electric vehicles:
Range - For the most part, you can drive a conventionally fueled vehicle so long as it's mechanically sound and has fuel. Trip from Florida to Alaska? No problem, so long as you remember to stop for gas.
Inconvenience - Forget to fill up your tank and you can solve the problem with a call to a friend (or a long walk) and 5 gallon fuel container. Forget to charge your EV and you need a tow, which is generally a lot more expensive than doing the walk of shame, to a gas station. You have to plan your trips around the level of charge in your car. Just got home from a road trip to your aunt Susy's and now the school is calling that your kid needs to be picked up because he puked his guts out? Sorry, little Jimmy, you'll have to wait while the car has enough capacity to make it to school and back home.
Electricity - Sure, it's cheaper than gas today, but what happens if electric cars started catching on? They'd have to build more coal and natural gas plants (there's still that pesky fear of nuclear and renewables aren't feasible everywhere) and everyone gets to pay for them in higher utility costs. See, very little petroleum (roughly 1%) is actually used for electricity generation, so a shift towards electric cars would actually just make gasoline and diesel cheaper, while every fucking thing you use electricity for becomes more expensive. Now, I'm sure the car buyer who walks past the Model S isn't worried about it costing twice as much to microwave a burrito or watch the Superbowl on his 60" TV, but it is still something to consider.
Battery lifespan - If the battery craps out, you could be on the hook for an extremely expensive repair. This will be a bigger problem in the future as more electric cars start entering the second-hand market.
Here in the USA, the grid is 68% fossil fuels. So unless Tesla is including a free ZPM with every purchase, "Zero Emissions" is a crock of shit, just like a 5.4 star safety rating.
Sure, the R&D payoff could be worth a fortune - but why bother when you can stick today's batteries in a fancy package and milk the rich now? Investors generally want a clear path towards profit and a business plan of "our scientists will dick around until they make a breakthrough at some indeterminate point in the future" doesn't inspire much confidence.
What's wrong with this guy. He keeps launching and suggesting new ideas every other week, without actually delivering something most of his fans are begging for.
That's what Elon sells - ideas. He sells the idea that if you buy his $70k car, you're doing a big part to help humanity move towards a more sustainable future. The reality is, lithium ion batteries are resource intensive to build and the electricity to charge it (in the USA) is 68% fossil fuel derived.
There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to electric powered everything. We already have a great understanding how to build an electric motor for any conceivable purpose. Where a breakthrough is really needed, is in the storing of electricity - that's what would enable Tesla (or any other car company) to release an inexpensive electric vehicle. The thing is, Elon is just going to sit on his ass and wait for someone else to make a breakthrough in less expensive batteries and then he'll announce a vehicle that incorporates it. Kinda like how Apple gets credit for all their "inventions".
Shit, even when you're broke there's always the dollar menu. I'd take McDonalds over a glass of snot, any day. I do have to wonder about his dating prospects. "Uh, hey baby, want to come back to my place and drink a glass of that food from The Matrix?" Yeah, that's a pickup line for the ages.
It's kinda like Star Trek. Live on a starship that seems like it's constantly under attack by hostile forces, put up with with condescending superior officers and any time you think you have something to contribute, you're told to shut up. The best part? You don't even get paid. While watching the show, I've often thought to myself "Why would anyone willingly subject themselves to this crap, when they could be back on Earth doing anything they can imagine inside a holodeck?"
Star Trek analogy aside, I can see how it might not be very appealing to learn how things work under the hood, when computing has basically been distilled down to a point-and-click world of "buy apps from the app store, run apps". As for those who do have the interest and aptitude for programming, perhaps they'd rather use their skills to put a few coins in their pocket? In this economy, can you really blame them?
All of the points you identify are in relation to the problems caused to drug users by drug laws , not by drug use.
Just because the negative aspects of illegal drug use are largely a result of anti-drug laws, doesn't make the consequences any less real. Is it smart to challenge authority? Sure, history might remember you if your success (or failure) is epic enough. But odds are, you won't be the next Ghandi, you'll just be the same Joe-Slightly-Above-Average, now with a criminal record.
Plus, since our political system is only mostly broken (kinda like the difference between "mostly dead" and "all dead"), there are plenty of ways to affect changes in the laws, without screwing yourself over in the process. Sure, it may take patience, but look how a "Don't care how, I want it now!" attitude worked out for Veruca Salt. Sure, she's a fictional character, but there's actually been studies proving that people who are willing to delay immediate gratification are generally more successful in life. It's not hard to see illegal drugs as analogous to "I want instant gratification, consequences be damned."
http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/01/26/2237250/self-control-in-kids-predicts-future-success
Little bit of alcohol and it's like insta-hangover for me. To make matters worse, I can't stand the vile taste of alcohol, no matter what it's mixed with. I used to think this was a bit of a curse considering how many social activities involve drinking, but with how expensive alcoholic beverages have become, maybe it's not so bad.
I was indifferent about YouTube until it inexplicably linked itself to my Gmail account and now wants me to create a Google+ page in order to comment on videos. Now, I'd like nothing more to see it go up in flames, like a Tesla that hit some road debris.
Quite a bold statement that has no real basis in reality:
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/14/high-iq-linked-to-drug-use/
Let's see, doing illegal drugs involves:
Having to deal with shady types to purchase drugs.
You'll have less money to spend on other things (for example, taking a romantic interest on dates).
Potential health risks due to tainted/contaminated/incorrect product.
Reduced job opportunities due to drug testing policies.
Legal risks that can destroy/limit your career and make relationships more difficult.
Clearly, IQ tests are missing something - because there's a lot more risk than reward when it comes to doing illegal drugs. Unless, higher IQ has some kind of correlation with self-destructive behaviors. Someone should look into that...