Exactly. Nothing wrong with a hero being at least middle-aged. Maybe they even have a spouse and kids they're leaving behind, or the kids are coming with them on the quest.

Nah, they'll likely have some kind of remote-activated self-destruct feature that fries them to prevent us from using them.

I know what Republicans will do. They will send AI robot armies marching through every city to just start massacring humans.

And the people who want this, want it to be a painful gruesome death.

Yeah. If done correctly, a bullet to the head is quick and painless, as in, you are dead before your body has recognized that you've been shot.

But the people who want this want suffering, so likely firing squads will be ordered to hit body parts that will not result in instant, painless death but rather a gruesome and agonizing death from shock and blood loss.

Well, the plan then, if other countries start pulling away from US tech/hegemony as you suggest they will do, and are doing, is to use overwhelming military force with unending waves of AI-powered killer robots capable of combat in land, sea, and air. Use them everywhere, all at once, against everyone in a titanic billionaire temper tantrum the likes of which has never been seen on Earth. Because, if Karp and Thiel and Andreesen and all the other tech oligarchs don't get their wish, they will absolutely attempt to totally annihilate the planet in a massive temper tantrum.

And the cake will be "free", as in "each bite adds to your debt and you will serve in our army until it is paid off or you die in the line of duty. In the event you die in the line of duty, your debt will be passed down to your next of kin, who will be forced to pay it until their death."

Basic necessities contingent upon obedience to the billionaires. Don't like it? Tough shit. Take what we give you, and keep any complaints locked in that empty, non-rich hat rack you call a head. In fact, we mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street, grateful that we have granted you the privilege of another day of living. But be mindful, we can revoke that privilege any time it so pleases us.

Well, in the legal sense, I suppose it has to do with contracts and contract law. Some time ago in the US, it was determined that 18 was the legal age for adulthood because by then a person would be old enough to understand the terms of a contract and hold to those terms. Marriage is a contract. Military service is a contract. Getting a loan/mortgage is a contract.

The markets select for speed, not growth. Long-term gains are nice, but they aren't realized fast enough to prevent being consumed by the competitors seeking short-term gains. They move like piranhas and strip the slow-movers to the bone before they ever realize their gains.

States are permitted to enter into compacts with each other without Congressional approval. Democrats everywhere are rediscovering federalism and all its wonders. One thing I'd like my state to do is open a public bank, like North Dakota did. They opened it in 1919, and it was one of the few banks that weathered the Great Recession of 2008 without needing a bailout while Wall Street was on fire. A few years prior, North Dakota was facing a $48M budget crisis. The BND kicked in $25M, reducing the need for layoffs and spending cuts. It does everything a private bank does, but its profits go into North Dakota's general fund, instead of lining the pockets of investors.

Want to know the real kicker? It's basically a socialist enterprise, in the reddest of red states. Republicans fucking hate the Bank of North Dakota, but it's proven too successful and too popular to kill. It would be political suicide for them to even try.