Chile was exporting saltpeter to Europe by steamship to fertilize local fields before the Haber process was invented. Nowadays it's a little bit like, "Well, the entire world is connected by kinetic prisms and half the food is almost-literally generated by nuclear fission."
If you can figure out the math, you're a better engineer than me.
Puts on goggles and aviator's cap to resume tilting at the Organic Lychee windmill
Data sharing technologies disrupted the media market in the same way that ride sharing technologies disrupted the taxi market. Its piratical uses are secondary to the fact that analog information had been largely outmoded by digital information as early as the first BBS.
The piracy, "concert/merch" model, as well as the success of Bandcamp and Spotify, are adaptations to changes in the infrastructure for information exchange.
However, anyone arguing that music, movies, or code "should be free" probably hasn't played a guitar, acted in a play, or written a block. Doing these things well is not easy and takes a lifetime of almost-daily practice and expertise...consider resuming that argument when the world is post-currency.
If you can figure out the math, you're a better engineer than me.
Puts on goggles and aviator's cap to resume tilting at the Organic Lychee windmill