I'd like to cite one plausible example, guesswork I admit, of where this all seems to be headed, in practical terms—this fudging of the boundaries between physical reality and simulated reality, most especially the growing tendency to conduct "experimental science" solely in a #computer simulation.
I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who has been keeping a worried eye on the headlines pertaining to the #science and #technology coming out of U.S. corporations and big-name universities: the prevailing business climate is hurtling towards an ominous old-fashioned method of monetizing science and engineering: crude, simple, dirty, and in massive quantities.
(cont'd)
Consider, for example, #Starlink and the general notion of the #satellite "constellation", filling the skies with lots of itty bitty low-orbit (i.e. cheap to launch) space junk. #SpaceX _expects_ these things to burn up quickly. That just means more SpaceX launches, bigger numbers going upwards, more more more.
It's wasteful and ineffectual to do things this way, but it's optimal in terms of generating business transactions, and you can deal in massive quantities by keeping technology crude and old-fashioned.
(cont'd)