When talking about self-driving cars I often ask questions similar to this

"Will my one-month old son learn to drive? Will my 2 y.o.? My 5 y.o.?"

A few years ago, those questions would get a laugh. Over time they've been given much more consideration.

Is it possible to use gentrification as leverage? If the gentrification is that severe (and it at least appears to be) then could the tech companies use that as a tool?

One fun hypothetical: political influence. Want to unseat a politician? Plan more bus routes for the district and endorse the opposition. Over a timeline measured in years you might end up with some sort of quasi-gerrymandering, although instead of redrawing the boundary you redraw the population.

btw: not actually worried about anything like that actually happening

I suppose two people could independently invent something without knowledge of what the other was doing, so maybe 35 USC 102(f) doesn't actually require a person be the first to invent?

I was always kinda partial to TIE Fighter, myself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_TIE_Fighter