I guess I can see that but I think the combinations in some of these are making something that is much more significant than the sum of its individual component

I guess I can see that but I think the combinations in some of these are making something that is much more significant than the sum of its individual components. If we are looking for bullet list items that have been changed or advanced in the past three decades which are going to impact the future in ways we still do not comprehend then here is my list: - genomics/proteomics and bioinformatics - 'AI' and machine learning - automated driving and robotics - privatised spaceflight (60s spaceflight handbook with 21st century materials science and computing) - dissolution of the USSR and fracturing of many former Warsaw pact nations, European map looks closer to 1910 - rise of violent empowered individuals and terrorism (inspired by religion, nationalism, paranoia, and misanthropy) - social/sexual changes so profound and fast that they are driving violent reactionary response - the arc of AIDS from terrifying bogeyman to a serious but chronic condition as exemplar for the future of disease A lot has happened over the past 30 or so years and we also tend to look back at the past with an odd viewpoint, picking and choosing the old and new of that particular point in time. Yes, my grandmother went to school in a horse-drawn carriage but at the same time she could take that carriage to the train station and be halfway across the US by the following morning and upon her arrival at Grand Central Terminal the telegram from the station back home informing them of her arrival would take less than an hour to be hand-delivered. As Gibson noted, the future is here but is not evenly distributed and that also applied in the past.