k wrote:
] I can't read this entire article because it's a reg-only site

No offense, but I'm tired of hearing this. It's whining.

If you're sophisticated enough to 'care' about this 'burden', I'm sure you're capable of devising a 'workaround' that doesn't involve Google. I'll give you three ideas: John Doe, Hotmail, and bugmenot.com.

] I think we'll see a soft revolution in the way people engage
] government and politics. Representation can become more direct.

This assumes that people care. I remain unconvinced. And even then, there are degrees of caring. There's caring enough to complain about it, and then there's caring enough to identify an alternative and take action to see it through to success.

With regard to direct representation, this assumes that all of the sufficiently motivated people are actually prepared for this duty. Again, I remain unconvinced. I would point you to the recent Edge thread around the Aristotle idea of Danny Hillis; look at the replies and see what the academics say about the hard problems in education.

RE: Creating a New Picture of War, Pixel by Pixel