So, in MY perfect world, we'd be going back to cartridges, where the 'cartridge' is basically a 256GB NVMe drive, so the game cartridge could theoretically be patched on-media, load times would be far lower, and there wouldn't be nearly as much dependency on massive storage on the console itself.

The reason why it will never happen this way, is because NVMe drives, even at Sony-levels of purchase, would be a significant portion of the game itself. If Sony got 256GB drives at $30 a pop wholesale (about half of what a quick look showed a drive for at retail), and they simply forwarded the cost onto the consumer, ignoring markup *and* all the retooling required to write games to NVMe media at scale, pretty much every game would be $100 or more, just because of the media...and if Sony can get away with selling games for $100 a pop, then you KNOW that Microsoft is going to trip over themselves to do the same.

Perhaps GameStop could find a new role, in that they could sell blank Sony-blessed cartridges, and then sell a case with a license key, that allows Gamestop to write the game, at its current patch level (it'd take 5-10 minutes to write in-store), to the blank cartridge, maybe include a box with a manual and some cover art if they're feeling fancy, and the cost of the media is externalized onto the customer without the game itself costing more...but it'd have to be a system like that for such media to work.

The reason why optical media is still the one everyone points to is that it's the compromise that works - users have immutable copies of the game, and the discs cost about a dime each - a trivial amount for Sony to absorb. Even if we bring it up to $5 for the case, the amortized cost of the duplication equipment, and the transportation fee...it's still cheaper than Sony will ever get flash media on a per-unit basis.

Ultimately, the reason people want discs is not because people LIKE optical media specifically, but because a whole lot of us have had download-only or stream-only media become unusable due to some licensing drama that our subscription fees were supposed to pay for. Optical media is the compromise, not the technologically elegant solution.

No mathematician myself ... I  can imagine  useful applications of this work for "packaging"  tasks, where  surface area translates into cost.

"... crippling the next generation of U.S. startups. "

That's exactly the point ... crippling those industrialists who will not explore, develop, build and sell novel  technology in America.  In the 1980 and 1990s that desertion of USA manufacture sent CPU, RAM, GPU & motherboard manufacture to Asian countries with cheap labor. Those electronic firms ought to have been forced to do everything in America and pay American wages and meet American social standards ... instead of putting Asian warlords at the head of nominally US corporations. So I say ... byte the industrial bullet ... bite it now, bite it hard and rain holy tariff-hell on globalists/5-th column CCPers who try avoiding the re-nationalization of  USA commerce ! Fuck Wall Street/SanFranny in azzwhole.

Nice point. As you observe Porche already makes excellent cars, so appending "jewelry" to the product adds little value beyond the current sparkling performance. Like a  closely-held computer application shop, whose 20-year experienced /devs  and managers do NOT need to immerse their brand in *.AI trimmings and "shine". Their code and function is already rock-solid and w,r,t, extensions sales engineers can walk-the-walk. Yes, I do have kind memories of my 1960 Chevy Impala convertible ... an American built "Porche".

I'll be the first to register www.IManAmRegalAGermanAmI.www.
Followed by www.OozyRatInASanitaryZoo.www.

You assume rationality.  GM hopes to repeat the behavior of APPLE corpse .... and sell  expensive transportation jewelry all gussied-up like a car. Body-by-Fisher now means fishing customers wallet for 70% profit.

Mebby GDP doesn't measure what you think it does. When foreign products are excluded from American markets more production of American products will occur ... or needless products will not be used or made. Good for USA workers and screws pure-play USA GLOBALIST  investor class in azzwhole.

This would be a perfect time to resurrect SACD and DVDA. While the former isn't technically dead, it has never really had its time to shine. SACD's can be produced with a layer that works on regular CD players in addition to the SACD layer which does require a special player. With people clamoring for physical media, SACD is really the most versatile format available because both collectors who never play the CD and audiophiles who will, can benefit. I know there are Blu-Ray Audio discs which may have the best audio quality but they typically require a TV screen in order to play them.

When? Android 16 has been out over a year. My phone has a pending update to Android 17.

Real example: Tina Peters.

Look up the cost of a new Japanese hand-crafted bamboo fly-rod;  then a million bucks doesn't seem unreasonable for a tricked-out SUV. Also,  comes with  software and a "practice" set of telephone numbers.

Worst-criminal-state supplier ?  I didn't know China or Russia made these snooper toys.

You say what? Original creative thinking and self-discipline are "outdated" skills ?  Prompt-cluttered environs reflect our new Walden? Maybe so;  French Dadaists & German anarchists will dance in the streets and share the wreckage with  electro-chemically guided urban savages. Godel? Never mind him ...

Starbucks  is a victim of its own success. They certainly "raised the bar" for  USA coffee taste from the 1940s-1950s standards of diner-drool and home-brew NAVEL-boil. But, Starbucks having taken that  quality step never moved beyond ... to what a modern home-brewer might get from a bag of Blue-Pointe beans. Starbucks rejected  vertical integration and its coffee quality tracked  seasonal uncertainties and Wall Street demands.

Yeah Europe has other  better options. Don't import ANY cheap CCP shite. Use-it-here-make-it-here ... or do without. A robust discipline for body and spirit in Europe and in America.