I agree. I wish I could have gotten more concrete examples of how new technologies could be used to generate practical steps towards empowered individuation and self-organized communities. This is still super blurry to me and always seems to miss the dimension of the need for new large-scale political forms.The part where he talks about the 3d printing clothes and circuit boards etc. is a little under developed.
I bring every version of the future to a simple test: The Seaplane Test. In the current system, there is a way for me to own this seaplane. It's expensive ($595,000) due to supply and demand, and I will have to work for a very long time to actually own it. It's something that I want for myself because of intrinsic reasons, and there is a path, although difficult, where at the end that plane lies. I want to fly to Alaska and land on a lake one day. Then drive up the gravel dock to park it by my inaccessible cabin where I can be alone or with the people I love and nature. In the new system, can I get this? I think not. Can I buy the lake and the materials to build a second home for the cabin to exist? I think not as well. The reason this is important, is that there are lots of 'seaplanes' and not just what you think about as frivolous things. Even in this discussion, you have him giving the example of how food that I grow myself is 'not going to taste like McDonald's hamburger'. So in effect, we are presented with the new system (which I understand may well be unavoidable), where food is dictated by what is available to grow yourself. Or the homes you print will be dictated by a set amount of material which is available. And so who decides how much concrete you get, or what seeds are available, or that I can't buy a seaplane. Those people have the power in this case. Those people now have wealth in authority over others. And you better believe they will be corrupt.