[majormajor]

Saying this universally leads to a too-rosy view of the future, I think, and downplays the amount of hard work needed to maintain society.

Consider advances in travel - you basically had people who saw, within their lifetime, a world of trains become one of planes, including some supersonic passenger flights (not to mention going to space). Even bullet trains are old at this point.

Lotta other examples of stagnation in the physical world rather than the information one since then.

[mitthrowaway2]

(Bullet trains might be old now, but for those of us who come from a country without them, hopping on one is still a huge thrill!)

[Teknoman117]

I'd love to take a bullet train from SF to LA. I make the trip every two or three months for work and just hoping on a train and zoning out would be far nicer than running through buses/light rail/airport security/cramped airplane/etc.

Distance would be pretty similar to the Tokyo to Osaka leg of the Tokaido shinkansen. Total time would probably be similar. I left my apartment 3.5 hours before I arrive in SoCal. Hour and a half on public transit, 30 minute buffer for flight, 30 minute boarding time, 60 minute flight.