Being a self-declared expert on Issue, I feel compelled to pedantically point out the weakness of Author's argument. I'll also insert an obligatory reference to how Favorite Tech Company will solve Issue sooner than everyone thinks by disrupting the stodgy old business model that's being propped up by Ethically-Dubious Lobby Group With Questionable Funding Practices. I'll conclude with a complaint about how Web Design Technique used in article renders it unreadable on Device.

Explicit self referential media is an interesting memetic spreading tactic.

I used to watch family guy confused as fuck as a kid. What the fuck is up with all these references? If I wanted to be in on the jokes I had to consume more of the same TV media.

Same goes for most pop/rap... in credit referential to others within the same medium. But of course not all music relies on explicit memetic references.

So the question is, why the tactic? I don't know. All I know is that it made me feel ignorant to not consume more mundane TV to feel superior in my ability to get meaningless footnoYes.

In my position as the Arbiter of Relevance, I presume to speak for all of you when I complain that articles about this issue don't belong on Hacker News.

I recognize that seagull photo in that article, I'm therefore qualified to immediately dismiss any and all points made in it.

Reminded me of Da Vinci's Notebook and their masterpiece "Title of the Song": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=734wnHnnNR4