I agree it was insufficiently clear. I meant that Yvain has seen societies that are both liquid and gas, and I do not see how someone who grasped the difference between those phases could write a post like his.
I don't think I understand the metaphor here.
Haiti is miserably poorer than America, in large part because of its people and its institutions. Not just in the sense of physical goods, but in most of the things that make life grand, and the things that make life annoying.
Similarly, we are poorer than the future will be- again, because of people and institutions. (Technology- as in, knowledge about reality and devices that make clever use of that knowledge- is the result of people and institutions.)
Importantly, this is not just in the sense of physical goods. It is one thing to compare a McMansion to a...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.