The whole point of federation is so that people can do as they please. If people don't want federation, they ought to want it. I know that's a futile position,

The whole point of federation is so that people can do as they please. If people don't want federation, they ought to want it. I know that's a futile position, but it's mine. And as someone said on HN recently, giving people what they want is what a drug dealer does. Anyone can do that, and shame on them. Here's a new thought: if you, by yourself, don't know what is good, then you can also not know if "what the people want" is good. And if you do, then you can not heed "what the people want" where it goes against what you know to be good. That people can and should argue about what they personally consider good is true, but a separate matter. I don't think it's hard to understand, the confusion is also founded in denial; I think people should also face the possibility of being drug dealers and/or addicts. Maybe we all are in some ways, and there is less shame in that than in not even wanting to recognize it for what it is. Lazyness is a drug, and the long-term costs to ourselves and society are staggering. We could be in the information age by now, or at least heading towards it.. instead we're getting kinda silly because it's more fun. We had the gap between rich and poor, that still keep growing at an increasing pace, and we don't even care that on the net, where everything is super cheap and easy in comparison, and where we could at least play "utopian society" a bit, or practice if you will, most people live in hotels that snoop on them, try to extort as money from them as possible, deceive them at every step, try to suck up all their time with trivial pursuits, and so on.. Gah. All the nice, wonderful things we still have, we have despite of "our" stewardship, not because of it, and partially as crumbs that fall of this table of hi-tech cold war... but I see mostly vultures at the wheels, and it could be much better with genuinely good intentions.