OK, so I have a dark sense of humor ... if you don't enjoy a little tongue in cheek feel free to go take a selfie.
While I don't accuse Polaroid of intentionally designing a mechanism to dumb people down when the first self-timer was added to a camera, I think the empirical evidence is compelling enough to warrant investigation into the long term effects.
It is hard to deny that since the self-timer was invented the proliferation of stupid people has greatly increased. I am convinced that if Marie Antionette had been born in the 1950's instead of the 1750's she would have said "If the people have no bread, let them take selfies"
Apple's ability to use the brain damaging effect of selfies to accelerate the process of dumbing down the masses to where they willingly accept not only price gouging but tying themselves to a wall outlet is pure marketing genius. A fly on the wall in the board room might have heard 'But if they have to charge their phones every 2 hours instead of every 48 the batteries will wear out like 10 times faster and they will need to buy a new phone ... oooh, I get it ;) ' (his parents loved the self timer ... more evidence?)
The casual acceptance of deaths caused while texting and driving and people stepping in front of trains and cars while proving how photogenic they are is not at all outside the margin of acceptable losses in the corporate environment. The rubberneckers will take selfies as they pass the bodies and the market will continue to grow.
I heard there was a bill in Congress (Narcissus Bill) to introduce subliminal advertising (flashing a frame of "Stupid people shouldn't breed') into the moving pictures Apple introduced but Obama vetoed it. While I couldn't agree more with the ad, I think taxing selfies would be a better solution for the next administration to eliminate the national debt.
Unlike the 'temporary tolls and taxes' municipalities sell to the selfie crowd and then find never ending reasons to continue, a tax on selfies would pay off the national debt and then fade away if they manage to make them cause sterility too.
Doubtless some PC bores will find my humor offensive, but I wish them no ill. There is a nice reflective puddle out there somewhere they can take a selfie at ;)
When I am not enjoying the best mod ever for Call of Pripyat (Misery), I admire the ability of MDT to grind away making it even better in spite of the ungrateful few who can't manage to leave them be and "have" to say
"I know this has been answered many times, but is there a release date" It would make me crazy. PC was never my thing, so most of my comments will be deleted. If I can encourage the deleting of vapid queries, it is the least I could do to thank them for all their hard work :)