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Just based on what people I know have in their homes, late 10s is probably Alexa, Google Home, etc. I don't have one, think they're stupid, and don't like the i

Just based on what people I know have in their homes, late 10s is probably Alexa, Google Home, etc. I don't have one, think they're stupid, and don't like the idea of having another internet connected microphone in my home, but other people seem to like them. Streaming, which you mentioned is a big one too. I know it existed before, but it really took off then. Zoom might fit into that category as well.

betwixthewires 6y ago
Are they really a technological leap like radio, transistors, automobiles, even smartphones? I wouldn't put them in the same category. I'd put them right there next to the walkman. Cryptocurrency (or more specifically, cryptographically enforced consensus networks) are way more of a technological leap than voice interfaces connected to the internet. If there's a top invention of the 2010s, it's bitcoin.
- jeffreyrogers 6y ago
  No, I don't think they're a technological leap either. But we haven't had a real technological leap on the scale of those early inventions in a while. (I don't think smartphones or the internet count... they are commercializations of existing technologies). Cryptocurrency is actually a technological leap without much precedent (it's sort of similar to bittorrent and some of the ideas were in the air, but no one synthesized them into something useful prior to Satoshi). I think it's still an open question to what extent it matters long-term. It's mainly used for speculation and facilitating illegal transactions currently.
  - betwixthewires 6y ago
    All of these leaps though were commercializations of existing technologies, or they were novel applications of existing technologies. The automobile was a novel use of combustion, radio was being played with and used in military applications.
    - jeffreyrogers 6y ago
      I agree that they took a while to commercialize, but they were new technologies. Smartphones, streaming, etc. are not new technologies. They are extensions of old ones, or in the case of smartphones, a systems integration problem. I think we're talking past each other a bit. I think there are technological leaps and sociological leaps. Most new tech is a sociological leap: it changes society but it does not make use of anything radically new. I think the only real technological leaps in the past twenty years have been maybe crypto, and some things happening in biology. Notably absent is renewable energy, which was largely developed many decades ago but is now being commercialized due to process improvements.

betwixthewires 6y ago

Are they really a technological leap like radio, transistors, automobiles, even smartphones? I wouldn't put them in the same category. I'd put them right there next to the walkman. Cryptocurrency (or more specifically, cryptographically enforced consensus networks) are way more of a technological leap than voice interfaces connected to the internet. If there's a top invention of the 2010s, it's bitcoin.

jeffreyrogers 6y ago
No, I don't think they're a technological leap either. But we haven't had a real technological leap on the scale of those early inventions in a while. (I don't think smartphones or the internet count... they are commercializations of existing technologies). Cryptocurrency is actually a technological leap without much precedent (it's sort of similar to bittorrent and some of the ideas were in the air, but no one synthesized them into something useful prior to Satoshi). I think it's still an open question to what extent it matters long-term. It's mainly used for speculation and facilitating illegal transactions currently.
- betwixthewires 6y ago
  All of these leaps though were commercializations of existing technologies, or they were novel applications of existing technologies. The automobile was a novel use of combustion, radio was being played with and used in military applications.
  - jeffreyrogers 6y ago
    I agree that they took a while to commercialize, but they were new technologies. Smartphones, streaming, etc. are not new technologies. They are extensions of old ones, or in the case of smartphones, a systems integration problem. I think we're talking past each other a bit. I think there are technological leaps and sociological leaps. Most new tech is a sociological leap: it changes society but it does not make use of anything radically new. I think the only real technological leaps in the past twenty years have been maybe crypto, and some things happening in biology. Notably absent is renewable energy, which was largely developed many decades ago but is now being commercialized due to process improvements.