> and eventually sorting tools and approaches into their proper niches in view of tradeoffs. This is probably too optimistic. I think there's a lot of success,

> and eventually sorting tools and approaches into their proper niches in view of tradeoffs. This is probably too optimistic. I think there's a lot of success, failure, and even assignment of particular technologies to particular niches that is not about inherent tradeoffs as much as the incidental history of various power struggles in institutions, governments, and marketplaces. There's not really any guarantee that the sorting we get 'in the end' reflects the fundamental tradeoffs of the technologies. (Love the comment overall, though, and mostly agree!)