Zenphamy, any way in which one person or group stops another from acting can only be political. We may want that to protect rights. Beyond that, of course, are different questions - and the "beyond that" is very near. The original article by Ed Hudgins cited Leon Kass: “In perpetuation, we send forth not just the seed of our bodies, but also the bearer of our hopes… If our children are to flower, we need to sow them well and nurture them, cultivate them in rich and wholesome soil, clothe them in fine and decent opinions and mores, and direct them toward the highest light. ... If they are truly to flower, we must go to seed; we must wither and give ground.”

Replying to this over on Rebirth of Reason, I said that I had to look up Leon Kass. Leon Richard Kass was one of President George W. Bush's science advisors. "...best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning, life extension and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research..." -- Wikipedia. His is an old argument; and one perhaps not easily ignored. Enduring power - political, cultural, philosophical, ... ethos, Zeitgeist... - conserves itself, making change more difficult.

In this case, in particular, not only did the government not fund the research, which is fine, but they made human cloning illegal. How would legal controls on the Internet affect the "Internt of things" when some of those "things" are parts of your body or adjuncts to your brain?

3D printing makes body parts, from joints to tissues. Doctors and hospitals are regulated, but can the government prevent you from making these and installing them yourself? We have had robot surgery for about 30 years. Give yourself an anesthetic and run the program...

As for the Einsteins, that is a result of our population explosion. People like that came along once every lifetime (maybe). Now the 25% smartest people in China are more people than are in the United States. But they need freedom to make the best use of that intelligence. That is why we know more of these people in the 15th century than in the previous 10 or 15 centuries.

...their self-abasing beliefs, for sure; and I have little doubt you would in self-defense.

I disagree, DrZ. In fact, history demonstrates that pretty much everything trickles down to the poor. I remember when we used to dress up to go on an airliner. My mother's generation dressed for travel on trains. Today's indigent unbilled hospital emergency room visits get treatment that H.G. Wells would have called "science fiction." (How about those plastic leg casts tightened with velcro strips?)

I am a fan of public transportation, so I see the lower strata every day. I mean, looking out the window, I saw three guys I would call homeless in a ravine behind a strip mall tapping into someone's WiFi with a laptop. Elite? I doubt it...