[mindcrime]

I would argue that the slides are there for the audience. Ideally, you need to be able to present your talk without seeing your slides. They are not cue cards for the speaker.

I would argue the exact opposite. I think you should desire to be able to do your talk without seeing your slides, because the goal should be to do the talk without slides at all. You want the audience focused on you and what you're saying, IMO. Slides are a (sometimes) necessary evil just to help keep the talk on track.