[cosmie]

> with eventual impacts on human vision correction (e.g. LASIK, esp. for people w/ major astigmatism)

That's really neat! I'm a beneficiary of this - with both nearsightedness and major astigmatism, I was told by the ophthalmologist that did my intake for LASIK that there was a non-trivial chance that the surgeon would decline to perform my operation (luckily he was in a confident mood). I went from completely non-functional without glasses to seeing 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other.

While the benefits are diffuse, it's easily one of the top most impactful experiences in my life. It's akin to the feeling of successfully refactoring away a mountain of legacy tech debt that had been getting the job done but bogging you down. Getting rid of the tech debt feels great, but removing the cognitive load of even having to factor it into any decisions anymore just makes things more pleasant.

It's interesting to learn that, indirectly, I owe that to Regan's defense spending.