A University of Missouri analysis of recent political blogs - i.e., basically meaningless, but fun to talk about - indicates politics are getting nastier due to digital media.  Why?  The digital world has made it easier for polarized interest groups (which is basically every interest group) to reach other people who are similarly polarized.

For millenia, science and technology have been mobilized toward a Utopian dream; making food so plentiful and cheap poor people could afford to be fat.

Well, they can, and because we have freedom (sort of - some states ban trans fats for your own good) a lot of people are fat; so fat some advocates even insist we should go back to making food too expensive for poor people to eat.  Others contend people should just eat less and keep government out of it.

For people who seek a third alternative, there is the awesome power of science.  Maybe taking a pill would do the trick.