All the critiques of HFT are a century old. When telegraphy was invented, it was feared that the ticker-tape would create devastating waves of speculation, by speeding up the markets beyond human comprehension.

When markets went over to computerised trading, it was argued that the human element of open-outcry trading was vital in preserving a culture of honesty and integrity.

Critiquing HFT is myopic, because it's based on a meaningless definition of "high frequency". HFTs are doing what traders have always done. There's a legitimate argument against speculation, but it's pointless to single out speculators that deal in the very short term. Singling out the newest technology is just a cheap shot, there's no fundamental difference between trading on a millisecond horizon or a minute or hour horizon.