Astonishing how selfish, unmitigated, and utter stupidity beat out even selfish greed when it required some collectively shared benefit, even when the stakes were this low (tens, hundreds — or at the most a few thousand <i>if</i> they set about it in a smarter and less sleazy way).<br>Considering that those present probably aren't the <i>most</i> unintelligent and sleaziest people among the nearly 8 billion now populating this lonely little blue marble, it may be a safe bet to assume that humanity's outlook is even more dire than the pessimists among us thought. :s