Trying things out in many tech fields is still expensive and often impossible. Like you can't go try your hand at micro(forget nano) lithography at a hack-lab.

Trying things out in many tech fields is still expensive and often impossible. Like you can't go try your hand at micro(forget nano) lithography at a hack-lab. Up until 6 or 7 years ago trying things in electrical design was hard because of expensive monitoring tools like oscilloscopes and stable power supplies (thankfully that is changing due to Rasberry Pi and Arduino). I still hope that expensive university resources, like lab equipment, could be shared better. For example Columbia, CUNY, NYU could certainly co-own expensive equipment to lower costs and access instead of each of them owning their own, if only for the purpose of lowering tuition costs. Right now this sharing is only true of information. The most liquid and sharable resource.