The "flag and footprints" demonstrations serve essentially as prototypes. They demonstrate that a certain tech level is possible. But as anyone who's built a prototype knows, when the prototype works you are maybe 5% of the way there.
We put a man on the moon in 1969, and we are just now getting privately-funded spaceflight and satellites. We made the first computers in 1945; we got them on every desk in the 1980s. The first steamboat was built in 1783; the transatlantic shipping industry didn't transition to steam until the 1840s & 1850s.
Probably some kid who's watching AlphaGo's game today is the person who, late in life, invents the first strong AI.
We put a man on the moon in 1969, and we are just now getting privately-funded spaceflight and satellites. We made the first computers in 1945; we got them on every desk in the 1980s. The first steamboat was built in 1783; the transatlantic shipping industry didn't transition to steam until the 1840s & 1850s.
Probably some kid who's watching AlphaGo's game today is the person who, late in life, invents the first strong AI.