The problem is that since the dawn of our Republic when our current system of checks and balances was put into place, the intelligence apparatus has grown much larger and more powerful than I think anybody really could have ever expected. And because of their secrecy and vagueness, it has become impossible to actually get a sense of the real benefit of our intelligence operation.

If it's a choice between the unknown benefit/cost of compromising the NSA's operations (through greater transparency) and the current situation (our civil liberties being threatened more and more every day), I would choose the former.

The system of accountability is completely outdated and unbalanced in favor of the intelligence apparatus.

I agree with this. But at least with Twitter, you're the one actively filtering and curating your news feed, as opposed to exclusively reading The New York Times every morning and having the content curated for you.

I'm no algo trader, but I used to think the same way you do about math. I found that studying physics really gave me that first appreciation for how awesome math really is, and how it can be used to model so much of our world.