Dear James,
You wrote "the question might be who controls how [the three crucial technologies] are used. Right now the control is in the hands of monolithic corporations who in turn control governments, media, and culture."
Yes and no. Who controls the technologies is an important question. But how many currently powerful corporations existed 50 years ago? I don't know if you've had any honest conversations with any upper level managers in any large
corporations, but all the ones I've talked to share the fact that their corporations are anything but monolithic, divided by not only people with well-meaning different goals for the company, but by people with personal and petty agendas which cripple productivity and effectiveness.
You wrote, "Spending on war and war materials is now more significant than spending on aerospace technologies with pure research/discovery goals."
True. There are many billion-dollar projects for weapons systems, and few research programs for more than ten million dollars. As a research engineer, this fact has certainly had a negative impact on my life. Unfortunately, fear motivates governments (and the people who support them) more than curiosity and wonder does.
If it helps make you feel better, recall that we evolved that way; for hundreds of millennia, pre-hominids who were more curious than fearful did not survive long enough to become our ancestors.
You wrote: "some cite a limit of Moore's Law, seeming to discount 3D circuits,
materials other than silicon, and quantum computers."
Agreed. And those are only the possibilities we know about it; black swans might accelerate Moore's law even faster.
Finally, you wrote, "My concern though is marketing focus and control with
short-term myopia."
Yes, but remember where that shortsightedness comes from. There have been strong evolutionary drivers for millenia to grab scarce resources while it was
available--when there are snakes in the grass and lions in the meadow, you might not get a second chance. In a society of abundance, this shortsightedness might be alleviated, but only if that society recognizes that giving brings more joy than getting. Most philanthropists recognize that fact because their needs for basic material goods and for security have been met for a few years.
-Tee
