Very interesting story. Here are some reflections on it from a New York-Los Angeles person:

- Sherlock Holmes once pointed out to Dr. Watson that, while Watson finds charm, peace and beauty in the small rural villages of England, Holmes sees, in these same places, opportunity for the most terribly iniquity, hidden in lonely cottages and behind pretty stone walls; horrible crimes that will never be discovered. Out in the middle of nowhere, it may very well be that no one will hear you scream. And in fact, haven’t most of the famous mass murders takes place in rural areas. Rural areas and small towns have more than their share of wife beating, drunkenness, obesity, unwanted teen pregnancy and so on. In a big city, you’re more likely to get help if you need it or have your bad behavior censured, if you need that. You’re also more likely to receive proper justice if you need that.

- Big, broad, flat, empty open spaces are beautiful, but are also well known to drive people mad;

- People in big cities aren’t really less friendly, though that is the stereotype; they’re just moving a little faster and have a little less space to share. In New York City, if you stop at a corner and stare down at a map, five people will stop, unbidden, to help you and will hold an impromptu public meeting on the best way for you to get where you’re going.

But, G-d help me if I’m in a diner in a rural area and don’t like my eggs, or in a local motel and don’t like my room. I promise you that the cheerful grin I got when I came in will vanish, and I’ll suddenly become an unwanted stranger, probably someone corrupt or superior, maybe even ethnic, from a big, dirty city who has come to cloud the normal, peaceful, grinning course of rural life. People in rural areas are not more friendly. And urban friendship, though forged in more stressful circumstances, can run very deep. You may not get a grin the first time you meet, but you might get a friend for life. After all, people in cities are all in it together; they have to cope.

- I don’t know the statistics on this, but I’ll bet the per person carbon footprint of someone in a rural area is higher than an urban dweller.

Do I sound harsh? That’s not my intention, but I do know that the countryside isn’t the Romantic ideal the mythology holds, just as the city isn’t always the vibrant, cultural utopia its mythology holds with. But, there are reasons so many people are moving to cities the world over.
But that doesn’t mean people in the cities dislike the countryside or see it as monolithic. They don’t. They don’t fear or resent it.

I hope this discussion will continue.

Michael Meric
Landscape Architect
New York

As long as they lock in as much freedom as possible and learn the lessons from the democracies that have come before them, they'll do fine.

Ten days is plenty of time. It will encourage inclusion of general principles and copying from other nations. Our US Constitution is brief and was written in a few months without the benefit of computers. It compares favorably with the unratified European Union Constitution that was written with all the time in the world.

Nice that you mentioned that Watson blew away the 2 other contestants. How about a more complete story, that Watson blew the Final Jeopardy question last evening. That should send all those doctors and engineers, who've expended a hefty sum to program Watson, scrambling for excuses.