While I agree with your assessment as 3D printing is NOW and in the near future, I am reminded of a conversation I had with some professional photographers (that I used to do computer work for) in the mid 1990s:

"Digital photos will never replace film. There will NEVER be a use for digital photos in the professional world. You just cannot get the quality and control you need with digital. It will never be there."

Or in the late 90's when I worked for a research consortium that regularly purchased new tech goods from other countries, took them apart and wrote analyses for member corporations. We had early smart phones from Japan back in 1997:

"Sure, these big, touch-screen phones are popular in Japan, but that's more of a Japanese cultural thing. No one in the US would put up a phone that big. They want smaller phones. These are too complex."

And flat screen TVs from Japan in the 90's: "People don't care if their screen is curved, besides, these things are far too expensive."

I've learned over the years that 640k is in fact NOT enough for everybody.

I have managed to reconnect with lots of old friends and even a few relatives with an occasional "Game Night" in the past year. Some decent finger-foods, some adult beverages and it's like being at a party, but without the loud music and without everyone trying to get laid. And far less vomiting.

An AI that can track my productivity at work!

As someone who had their brain repaired by a tool with a proton beam moving in arcs 15 years ago, I heartily concur with your description.
The only scars I have on the outside are where they bolted my head to the table. And they won't be visible unless I go bald.

All surgery should be this awesome.

It will also fuck up your digestive system to the point of shutting down. This almost killed a relative of mine last year.

He always refused to do any drugs stronger than ibuprofen, because they were for "druggies."
He has since changed his stance.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
I am no DNA-talkin' guy, but it seems this might hide potential cancerous cells from the body, if the linked article is correct.

Yep. I was in China a couple years back and the wealthy people (and there are a LOT of them) were complaining about it.

Everything is fine until it affects those with money and power.

I had a TRS-80 in 1978. (4K RAM baby!)
I was pretty much a weirdo. There were less than a dozen people in my freshman HS class (of over 800 people) who had computers.
I think it was 3 TRS-80s, 2 Commodore PETs and a few TI-99As

We were a definite minority, even though we were in one of the most high-tech schools around. My high school was literally down the road from NASA JSC, maybe 3 miles away. Almost everyone's dad was an engineer or technician at NASA.

So yes, while computers existed and were available reasonably cheaply (TI-99A was $99), it was still over a decade before they were becoming commonplace. And it wasn't until the Internet became commonplace (early/mid 90s) that someone other than "computer people" I knew bought computers.

That being said, I am very proud of the Millennial programmers that I have hired in my department. They can program rings around me. Over half of them are women. All of them are talented programmers so I do not hesitate to assign complex projects to them.

Fortunately, as the old man in the department I get to see them make the same mistakes I did, which makes me feel less stupid. And I get to look like I'm clever when I can find the errors they missed, but in reality it is because I have made those errors more times than I can count.

You need to learn about a fellow named Robert Moses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Much of the NYC decay in the 50s, 60s and 70s was almost directly caused by his work.

Not uncommon.

I have lived out in the country on 36 acres for 25 years. I am in the middle of a lawsuit with a neighbor who bought land next to me 4 years ago. He claims that me using a tractor or chainsaw on a weekend, which I do about once a month, I am hurting his airbnb rental business. He doesn't even live here. I live here full time, but I have an actual job in the city (30 miles away, not a bad commute) during the week.

There are several cabins and a big house on his land, and he often rents to large families for loud parties, reunions, weddings, etc. that disturb everyone else around, (not to mention strangers wandering on our properties all the time) so I counter sued him for that. At least that made him stop suing the other neighbors he hadn't already forced out.

He has sued me for 2 million dollars for doing nothing more that regular work on my land. It has cost me nearly $60K in legal fees fighting this asshole, which I hope to get back, but he will probably declare bankruptcy if I win. Seriously. I cannot even cut dead trees or re-plant my orchard or any number of things right now because he came in with a lot of money and got an injunction against me and my "noise" from a county judge...who happens to be his wife's uncle. Several of the neighbors have been forced out by his frivolous lawsuits. Anyone who buys land out here now can't complain about his noise since to them he was here first. It is obvious that he wants to do the same to me and my remaining neighbors.

It is fucked up that someone can do this. But I am fighting, because someone has to stand up to assholes. ALWAYS stand up to fight assholes.

Yes and no. An ethics class SHOULD be required of everyone.

I was required to take a business ethics class when I was in college. This was in the 80s when typical business students admired "businessmen" like Michael Milkin and some guy named Trump. Most of the students, much like their heroes, couldn't understand the difference between "legal" and "ethical" behavior.

I got the only "A" in the class of about 80 people. And all I did was use common sense to choose the "don't be an asshole" option on every question asked.

I've been working in a semiconductor fab for 25 years.
It still amazes me.

I remember looking up at the moon and thinking "There are people up there." back in the day.
And at the time I assumed that there would ALWAYS be people up there from then on.

Yes, when I do something bad I always point out what isn't the cause.

You know how I know that you are not experienced with psychedelics?