I'd assumed up to this point that the "Great Firewall" of China was primarily intended to censor and control China's own population. Now I'm thinking it's main purpose was as a strategic defense initiative. Now they can attack more freely without fearing for their own infrastructure.
The sad fact in the U.S. is that it isn't the people with thoughtful consistent opinions on important issues that have real impact on the politicians that get sent to Washington to tackle current problems. It is instead the easily swayed fickle "undecideds" that determine the powers that be.
This state of affairs makes the tools in this article extremely disturbing in the context of government contractors.
I was definitely thinking that facebook integration could really lower the barrier for people to use something like this. I've also been working on that piece of it.
I think an important aspect of this discussion is what your goal is. If you're measuring success by results achieved then some amount of talent is necessary though not sufficient. If you're measuring success by happiness then talent seems less important. If you enjoy spending time at something that you are terrible at and can sustain yourself, more power to you.