1984 was a great book, but its Brave New World that captures the current state of things a bit better. The main difference being that in Brave New World people welcome the technologies as conveniences, ignoring the implications until it’s too late.

That has already begun, we are at least 10 years in.

Betas outlived VHSs by several years. It wasn’t Betas that caused Sony to act like that with BluRays, it was DATs.

People aren’t okay with mediocrity. Monopolistic practices make it hard to have other choices.