I’m just a guy, my dudes.
“Won’t someone think of the buggy whip makers?”
Not saying you’re against it, but having an actual social safety net and not worrying about particular industries/workers/special interests is a WAY better way to think about governance and change.
Dota?
Obviously the Internet plays a big role in this as people have said, but it’s worth mentioning this was also the era where tv stopped sucking (from reality tv awfulness to a bunch of absolute banger dramas), AND where Netflix and then other streaming services became available. So there are huge competition effects.
I’ve also never bought fully into the “reading good TV bad” mindset. Leisure is leisure, especially if the article’s raised point is “identifying with literary characters”. That certainly happens in other forms of media. Even if it’s reading to learn, I watch a LOT of YouTube these days, and probably 75% of what I watch is how to and instructional. Also let’s not forget with each new form of leisure: “fast-paced music” (classical), books for the masses, magazines, tv, jazz, rock and roll, DnD, the internet, VR etc…there was always someone saying the new stuff will rot your brain while they pine for something that was maligned when it was new.
This tracks.
DeWalt: high quality and good pedigree but overpriced = Slytherin
Milwaukee: basically the same as DeWalt, but less pretentious. Thinks they’re better and tougher though = Gryffindor
Makita: the smart choice for value, also best colors = Ravenclaw
Ryobi: I know it will break, but they’re just tools and I’m not serious about this anyway. I would rather spend more money on my family or other hobbies = Hufflepuff
Honorable mentions of other “houses” and schools in the thread.
Black and Decker/Craftsman/whatever. Used to be very impressive, but completely corrupted. Probably evil = Durmstrang (Russian school)
Festool: Beautiful, absolutely dripping with wealth signals. Still pretty amazing at what they do, but you might not want them on a job site = Beauxbatons (super wealthy French school)
Harbor freight: Simple, potentially the most powerful but also likely to break. Can probably accomplish what you need by using a wrench as a hammer, but you wouldn’t want to do anything delicate with it. Actually the biggest group of dad-wizards = Uagadou (the school in Uganda where magic was invented but they don’t use wands)
I’m all for delivery robots. The idea of having people in gas guzzling cars taking up huge amounts of city space while polluting, just so you can have a private taxi for your burrito is crazy. The main issue here is them taking up sidewalk infrastructure instead of car infrastructure. Fix that and we’ve got absolutely no problems. Tiny electric vehicles SHOULD be delivering things. Fixing this infrastructure problem is another great time to fix deliveries in general blocking side lanes, bike lanes, and slowing traffic where it does actually need to flow.
While we’re at it, fix all traffic. Switch to a modified Dutch design of three types of roads (highways, distributor roads, and access roads) to further eliminate car interactions with pedestrians, cyclist, and yes probably small bot interactions. They should only be mixing on access roads. Dedicated and separated car lanes, bike lanes, and walking paths, and shared delivery lanes for bots and manned cars on access roads. It’ll take time, but a simple plan and slow progress will eventually fix things and cause less havoc like adding cars did to cities that were all horse based.