In 1969, a countryโs borders were clear not just physically, but culturally and socially. The internet revolution, along with immigration and easier travel in the post-Cold War world, blurred the lines between nations and between disparate groups of people to a degree never seen in human history.
Digital translation tools reduced the language barrier, while mass media made distance pretty much irrelevant. If you were an American in 1969, you likely had never seen another nationโs way of life up close or been immersed in its culture. You knew you were American, unquestionably. As a result, a country did not need to assert its identity to its own citizens and could instead focus on projecting a message of peace and global unity. It's a shame because I don't think we have a good answer for what a nation should be in the modern world, but self-assertion and pride in one's nation at least seem reasonable.
We are getting close to one-shotting saas startups with AI, but this does not mean software is dead.
If the difficulty of software development was the only moat of software, Epic Systems would have been replaced long ago.