A point repeated here has been "keep your skills flexible." A lesson we could learn that would improve upon the auto industry disaster would be to consider the

A point repeated here has been "keep your skills flexible." A lesson we could learn that would improve upon the auto industry disaster would be to consider the "product line" itself. The auto industry was notoriously monofilamental in its innovation, as its CEOs preferred it. Their conservative operation proved a great long-term investment, with an eventual crumbling down hitting hard in the 1980s and hardly recovering. Innovation represents hours sweated and is always rewarded. So far the computer science industry has been well-motivated to continue innovation, as computation becomes one of the world's standard utilities. But once it's all up and running _and_standardized, it will only take a smaller number of people to run it, like the power grid, water supply, phone system, etc. It is all like plumbing, and like plumbers, there are household ones for household needs like web storefront/office/communications desks and industrial plumbers, but most of the unique, research-y plumbers are in a small, elite group who are innovating on their own and sharing their work with the public and are well-compensated. I think that's the effect we'll see, a narrowing or thinning of the industry somewhat, but it definitely won't settle until after use-cases are standardized and we're still a zillion miles from that. Imagine NASA doing a shuttle lunch with everyone from the control room at home in their backyards cooking BBQ with their family :) Cell phone in one hand, spatula in the other.