If the iBeer thing is what I think it is, it's an application that will find you the nearest store to purchase beer when you tap the glass with your finger. I

If the iBeer thing is what I think it is, it's an application that will find you the nearest store to purchase beer when you tap the glass with your finger. I don't see how that's some scathing critique of the devolution of society, moreso than the phone itself at least. People can ignore what's going on in the world and contribute to the "downfall of society" or choose to live in a perpetual state of guilt about the success that the "first world" lives in at the moment, neither has a moral high ground. Your attitude doesn't matter -- but your contribution does. The fact that the US is losing its edge in technology has as much to do with the rest of the world catching up or exceeding where we are. That's not cause for tears and somber attitudes, that's the third world gaining prosperity and health, and the second world joining the first world party. The luddites and idiots have been a problem as long as there has been humanity; that they've been in a leadership role in the US is a minor anomoly at best, and a self solving problem at worst. I'm almost the perfect pessimist, but even I'm seeing the glass as half full at this point in history. Web 2.0's pretty overrated on the whole though -- maybe he could reclaim the conference time for something more useful.