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These are virtual trends that give an illusion of progress. Yes you can order something off of Amazon now, but the product is still being transported to your ho

These are virtual trends that give an illusion of progress. Yes you can order something off of Amazon now, but the product is still being transported to your home, physically. Think of the web as another api to interface with the real world. The trends within this api are largely inconsequential and unpredictable because they have less bearing on reality then something like inventing a teleportation system or fusion reactor. The technological trends of the past 40 years have largely been in the area of illusion. IT and finance are where most of this growth occurs. There are definitely some tangible benefits but most economic improvements are more abstract/illusory then physical and real. Aa true paradigm shifting event happens in the real world. Energy, transportation, climate are where it's really happening. The appification shopping, listening to music and other abstract stuff are largely unpredictable because that's all it is: virtual abstractions. It's fluid like software and it's easy to change. Speculating on where this change goes is like predicting stock prices.

rramadass 7y ago
Well said. We are living in a "virtual world" of our making and people are forgetting that at some point it meets the real and physical world through our own manifestations. And that is where the "Great Unknown" lies. How is it changing Us, our Society and the World at large? Can we afford to hold an illusion of infinite resources and possibilities while reality sets definite bounds? We are living within a "mental maze" and not realizing that we are merely extending and complicating it rather than breaking out of it. This is maya in the 21st century.