The core separation was always arbitrary and overly staged to the benefit of the author's position. Peter Thiel is fond of dividing between atoms and bits, wher

The core separation was always arbitrary and overly staged to the benefit of the author's position. Peter Thiel is fond of dividing between atoms and bits, where he then proclaims that the only substantial progress has been in the world of bits. That's a poorly staged argument for his benefit, as in reality progress in the world of bits is progress in the world of atoms. It's all the same real world. It's a borderline mystical separation, like pretending the body and brain are not connected, or that the body has a distinct magical soul separate from the physical (and Thiel is loaded with mystical beliefs, so it makes sense that his irrationality would predictably repeat). It's a particularly amusing logic failure by Thiel because he attempts to take up a pro-science, pro-reason position. As one example, the mass global adoption of email (and numerous other similarly effective instant communication tools) over the last 20-25 years is a tangible, real thing and it involves atoms as much as a skyscraper or an automobile does. If our computing improves by ten fold, if we build giant globe-spanning systems for commerce, communication, media, entertainment, knowledge/education - that's all extraordinary progress in the world of atoms. You get a sense of Thiel's personal snobbery and bias in what he chooses to proclaim to be real progress. The very rapid advance of the GPU the past two decades, along with what it enables in the so-called world of bits (which, again, is actually the world of atoms as well), is every bit as important as many prominent world of atoms events in the 20th century, yet Thiel's position is to debase such accomplishments, because his argument is harmed by that advancement. Building data centers is building a mill or factory. That obviously isn't to imply they employ the same number of people (which is a distinct issue of automation, efficiency, etc). Thiel & Co. like to pretend there's some magic to steel or plastic and there is nothing special (atoms tangible) about a data center - and all the technology that goes with it - linked up at the speed of light to the rest of the world. It's nothing more than a silly and arbitrary line they've drawn to the benefit of their position.