Technology is accelerating

As Ray Kurzweil says, (information) technology is accelerating.  This is great but increasingly we are seeing devices turning obsolete faster than ever.

  • Who want's to get CRT tv, anymore - even if it was free?
  • Why would I want to buy a motorcycle that doesn't have fuel injection?
  • Would you want a 3 year old cell phone?
When you watched a movie on TV, for the longest time, it was difficult to tell which decade it was filmed in.  You sometimes noticed when there were k-cars on the road and the movie wasn't trying to be set in the 80's.  But once computers and cell phone started appearing then you could tell quite quickly what decade, even what year the movie was probably made.
 
What worries me is the change of more expensive technologies in the future:
  • My car is obsolete because it doesn't have fulltime internet access or because it doesn't self drive.
  • My house is obsolete because it isn't smart or is too far in the countryside for high speed internet.
  • My city is obsolete because it doesn't have fiber to the home or levitating trains.
How will this affect buyers and sellers.  When self driving cars are common how much is your Mercedes going to be worth?  Should I buy the Tesla today or wait a year when it has more features?  Is buyers remorse going to be an ongoing problem (I just bought this car a year ago and now it is already obsolete).

When will this start affecting people. "I like her, but her animated Tattoos aren't even in color nor interactive - so old fashioned".

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