The issue was never one of safety, the odds were never high that you would be on the receiving end of one of these SWAT attacks. The issue is the rights of citizens and their protection from unwarranted searches and unreasonable uses of force.
Australia has it's own issues on that front, look up Labor's recent proposal of data retention for electronic records or the infamous great firewall of Australia.
And as far as government's with regulatory zeal go, you've hit the motherload.
It's a lovely country (I've spent the last three years in Sydney and really and truly loved it) but don't kid yourself about the level of government intrusion in every. last. bloody. thing. It's maddening.
"I'm of the opinion that there is nothing wrong, or rather that the population is acting entirely naturally and appropriately given their adaptation to specific evolutionary conditions, which have changed drastically in the last 100 years. I doubt controlling marketing material will have a long-lasting effect, but anything is worth a shot. It is a very serious problem."
Which is it then, 'nothing wrong' or 'serious problem'?
You knock the gluten avoiders and follow that up by saying you became healthy by staying to the periphery of the grocery store where the fruits/veggies/meats/dairy are (and not the grains/gluten)...
+1. Another ex-professional dev (for +6 years) who left to do Hacker School here.
A lot of the students seem to have at least a few years of experience under their belt but it totally runs the gamut; you'll meet everything from people a few months into the hacking pursuit to people with decades of experience. And yes, it's a staggeringly amazing program. :)
How hard would it be for HN to filter posts like this? There are only so many permutations of "Why is this here? / What does this have to do with HN?" possible...
Let's take your theory and run with it, say that Derek was 100% lucky, that he's a hack, a fraud, just a product of some lucky circumstances, even so-- how on earth can you bemoan his simple message of encouragement?
The message is literally: reach out and try to make as many connections with other humans as you can and maybe even help them out if it's within your capacity. _That's_it_
Now have a good long think about how cynical of a person you'd have to be to complain about that message.
I have to say that 'Indie Game the movie' is absolutely fantastic. It's the programmer's 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'. (with added bonus points for their DRM-free delivery).
Well worth your $10 through http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/ or whatever you pay through this bundle. Go watch the trailer and then buy it in some form.
Societies are complex systems and managing them efficiently is actually (gasp) quite difficult.
This is _precisely_ the core tenet of conservative fiscal policy. The idea of coordinating any economy of non-trivial size from a central position is a fool's errand and invariably puts drag on the economy.
On October 7, 1998 the Journal presented the results of the 100th dartboard contest. So who won the most contests and by how much? The pros won 61 of the 100 contests versus the darts. That's better than the 50% that would be expected in an efficient market.
It strikes me as smacking of old-school fatalistic "some are born winners" type thinking which is fundamentally contrary to everything we are led to believe about startups (namely; success is a function of smarts, hustle and luck).
I have not met either of them. And while I have met a few individuals who have achieved success I can honestly say I have never met anyone who I thought radiated success or was otherwise predisposed to success.