I have a theory! Bear with me for a sec. Wikipedia looks like an encyclopedia. But I think it's better understood at the world's largest text-based MMORPG. The

I have a theory! Bear with me for a sec. Wikipedia looks like an encyclopedia. But I think it's better understood at the world's largest text-based MMORPG. The terrain is pages. The weapon is edits. Battles rage constantly. Anybody who has spent time on it knows the massive amounts of drama behind the scenes. But almost as a side effect, the encyclopedia gradually ratchets forward. Maybe it's better to see tech like that? Vast sums of money are scooped up and channeled by investors, all seeking advantage over one another. Most of that money is wasted, as is most of the effort it pays for. But occasionally, in dribs and drabs, innovation almost accidentally happens. In both cases, if we could deploy the resources involved effectively, we could get a lot more done. But until somebody figures that very hard problem out, we can live with the fact that everything kinda sucks but things still keep getting slowly better.