To me "The Machine" seems like a vision which is used to explore the possible problems and possible solutions that surface when one has to rethink computing wit

To me "The Machine" seems like a vision which is used to explore the possible problems and possible solutions that surface when one has to rethink computing with a really big address space. If one looks at how current computer technology has developed, especially evident in the x86 architecture, semiconductor processing, some popular programming languages and the popular operating systems, it becomes obvious that we got here by many many small incremental improvements. Rarely someone pulled the rabbit out of the hat and built a new kind of hardware, wrote a new kind of software and addressed a new kind of market with it. Why were these incremental improvements working? Because they solved the most pressing problems at the time using solutions which could be tested and implemented to work properly in the respective market scenario. That said, there is value in testing new ideas and making revolutionary experiments which never reach the market. The knowledge gained on the way sometimes can be used to solve problems in other existing systems or introduce new paradigms which prevent current developments from getting stuck.