Posted by agreement letter between two people on July 09, 2026 at 07:36:29:
In Reply to: megabono posted by megabono on June 20, 2023 at 15:12:30:
The symptoms of technological, economic, and cultural stagnation can be detected everywhere.
Some of the evidence is hard to quantify,
but it can perhaps best be summarized by a simple thought experiment:
Will children born today experience as much change as children born a century
ago-a time when cars, electrical appliances, synthetic materials, and telephones were still
in their infancy? Futurists and science-fiction authors once
prophesied an era of abundant energy due to nuclear fission, the arrival of
full automation, the colonization of the solar system, the end of poverty,
and the attainment of immortality. In contrast, futurists today ask
questions about how soon and how catastrophically civilization will collapse.
There is a science-fiction innovation that has
been hovering around the edges of the tech industry for the
last decade: virtual and augmented reality. It hasn’t gotten far.
Meta has, since it started breaking out Reality Labs financials in Q4 2020, recognized
$10.8 billion in revenue against $83.2 billion in costs; the total losses are far higher when you consider that the company bought Oculus VR
for $2 billion six years before that breakout.