Reading this reminds me of the era which was envisioned will happen when I was in college (which was not long ago) - individuals and societies building their own independent custom stuff (both hardware and software) with the power of computers in everyone's hands. I am sure that is still happening in small pockets but most of the 'stuff' we use are built by large mindless corporates on which we have almost no control - and who prioritize profits over well-being of the employees and the community.
I don't know for sure what the problem was (I have my theories) and why could we not get there where most people build their own custom products.
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