So you claim that there is nothing of interest in the topics that are voted on. How do you know that if you don't concern yourself with them?
You can either be ignorant or informed. Not both at the same time. Claiming that everything is boring by way of being ignorant of everything is dishonest.
I am not saying that current affairs are interesting, but I would prefer people to be honestly ignorant to simply being arrogant.
I completely disagree. How would a website that doesn't offer its content for free ever find an audience in the first place? What you propose would limit their non-paying audience to abridged crap-versions of heir articles. That would be a tough penalty for not paying.
In contrast to that, Ars is not offering premium content but the same content (without ads) on the website, as PDF or as RSS feed. This is a real bonus but no one is losing anything if he is not subscribing.
This article seems to be mostly Airbus-bashing. This part about the 'coffin-corner' is just ridiculous. If flying was that dangerous, the safety records should look differently.
Airbus' fly-by-wire system is built specifically to keep the plane on the save side of the flying envelope and will actively prevent the pilot from swaying out of it. This is its purpose and design.