term benefits. Fast food is more profitable when it satisfies the most basic taste needs, which were established in our genetic past when fat and sugar were in short supply. A hamburger with fries and a milkshake would make an exquisite banquet for a caveperson but is not particularly healthful for sedentary citizens. Private-sector television is similarly vulnerable to criticism. The kind of spectacles we are genetically programmed to watch have not changed much since the Romans flocked to the arena to see gladiators disembowel each other on the sand. It is difficult to imagine beneficial
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