Sorry for the double-post. Buuut..
Looks like we're not the only ones having this discussion, Xantar.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4217024.stm
The comments after the story are what I'm talking about. Many of the people are leaving very similar comments to your posts.
I thought it was interesting to see that this discussion is happening all over the world.