No, a FAI would have many advantages. For one thing, it wouldn’t have the same level of coordination problems that humans do. The technological problems of making DVD were solved years before they replaced VHS. Their sales were delayed by competing standards and the worry that all but one of the standards would be “the next Betamax”. The current state of technological development is an absolute mess. We have competing companies with competing standards, and even within a company there are different generations. You have an iPhone 3 that you want to upgrade to the newest generation? You’re going to have to replace your charger and other peripherals. Software companies keep releasing new versions of their programs, which means that users have to learn new user interfaces, and people who are using different versions now have compatibility issues. We have technologies involving dozens on patents owned by different companies that are stuck in development hell because the companies can’t work out a profit distribution agreement.
The current state of technological development is an absolute mess.
Yep. The idea that the space of possible innovations brought by any technological advancement is explored, not even completely, but just semi-efficiently, is starkly at odds with reality.
No, a FAI would have many advantages. For one thing, it wouldn’t have the same level of coordination problems that humans do. The technological problems of making DVD were solved years before they replaced VHS. Their sales were delayed by competing standards and the worry that all but one of the standards would be “the next Betamax”. The current state of technological development is an absolute mess. We have competing companies with competing standards, and even within a company there are different generations. You have an iPhone 3 that you want to upgrade to the newest generation? You’re going to have to replace your charger and other peripherals. Software companies keep releasing new versions of their programs, which means that users have to learn new user interfaces, and people who are using different versions now have compatibility issues. We have technologies involving dozens on patents owned by different companies that are stuck in development hell because the companies can’t work out a profit distribution agreement.
From the perspective of the company, this is a feature and not a bug.
Yep. The idea that the space of possible innovations brought by any technological advancement is explored, not even completely, but just semi-efficiently, is starkly at odds with reality.