I agree that healthy skepticism is sensible, but it's easy to let that drift into a "things are going to stay pretty much as they are" bias. Things aren't, not

I agree that healthy skepticism is sensible, but it's easy to let that drift into a "things are going to stay pretty much as they are" bias. Things aren't, not in the medium to long term. Yet I perceive evidence of that bias on Hacker News. In this particular case, I'd judge some disruption in this area is at least plausible. Adding windows is really difficult from a material science perspective, it creates structural weaknesses that must be compensated for, and making sure those windows never blow out to some 9 sigma safety threshold must be a nightmare. In short the windows impose enormous complications and costs. Last week I flew in an Emirates A380, equipped with a variety of outboard cameras. I got by far the most interesting and beautiful views I've ever seen from an airliner, via both a big screen and the seatback screen. Not by peering out a tiny, awkwardly angled window. It's not implausible to me that this might signal a possible trend for future development.