The value of the obsolete

I'm currently reading the book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil. The author predicts the not-so-far-away union of human and machine. It's kind of a terrifying read. (What does that say about me?)

Anyway, there's a section in the book where he discusses the life cycle of technology, which has seven stages:

1. Precursor. …