Don't worry wydat - that machine that runs on beer is the one that has been keeping my heart ticking since before I was born.

What I find puzzling is, since we all know that the oil is going to run out in a few decades, wouldn't it make sense to bring in the change we're going to need to make then now, rather than in a rush and a muddle a few years down the road?

Presumably the answer is, "that's not how the capitalist way of doing things does things". And to me that's a pretty clear indication that it doesn't actually work, except in the short term. I think it's highly that the capitalist system will long survive state socialism. And in its decline and fall it'll probably cause even more damage.

And Skeptic, I'm not doubting that there are a lot of costs involved in the Internet. Just saying, I've never seen the figures, and I wouldn't be surprised if the actual costs are relatively low, compared to the costs of a lot of the technological infrastructure we have.