It isn't technological progress I'm after. It's social progress. I want to live in a world where it's easier for different groups to exchange information using

It isn't technological progress I'm after. It's social progress. I want to live in a world where it's easier for different groups to exchange information using a well-defined set of semantic data standards. I'm not advocating for the imposition of any new technologies here. Everything I outlined is readily achievable using technology we have at hand today. It's just a question of holding organizations accountable to the good of the people on this planet instead of just to their own bottom line. I don't think the purpose of consumer banking should be to inspire us with technological wizardry. It should be to provide a stable suite of services to customers, with protections to safeguard those customers where appropriate. If 50-year-old Cobol mainframes are serving that goal, well and good. If they're not (say, because they're more susceptible to breaches), then those companies running outdated software should be penalized until they upgrade their shit. For each of your points, there are counterpoints to be made where government-imposed regulation had a positive effect on the citizenry. Do you find Teflon-induced cancers inspiring? What about marketing cigarettes to children? Should we get rid of all FDA labels on food products? More pertinently, should we do away with Sarbanes-Oxley and give corporations free reign over how they manage their financial affairs? Restrictions on liberty are a fundamental part of living in a society, whether we're talking about individual or corporate liberties. This isn't to say that all regulation is perfect, or that there won't be some bumps in the road. Far from it. But I consider it a hallmark of our immaturity as a society that we see the regulatory landscape in such black-and-white terms as "regulation kills innovation". Of course, entrenched industries spend tons of money trying to convince the average person that this is the case, so perhaps it is excusable that so many people feel that way...