We may make snap judgments, or mull things carefully; why and when do we use the brain systems behind these decision-making styles? It makes sense for terrorists to associate themselves with a positive term such as “jihad”, but for the US to also call them by that name, however, is a strategic mistake; and intent on isolating its foes, the US has instead ended up marginalizing itself. Many Iranians think the Great Satan is just great — it's their own president they hate. If, as Sir Tim Berners-Lee suggests, the Web is still a drooling, id-driven baby that wallows in its own (proverbial) feces, it makes sense that we continue to be mired in its arrested development. The needle returns to the start of the song: The mysterious shifting tides of musical fashion have bewildered critics since the dawn of

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