Technology and science have been advancing at an alarming pace, and many people have been caught in the middle of a war between competing companies. Conglomerates of businesses have eliminated much of the "middle man" aspect of inventing, and have taken the far more lucrative path - where all profits gleaned from a product (barring a small percentage to the inventor) are given to big business. The conglomerates are so immense that they simply have begun buying anything that shows promise, and merely waiting until a risk pays off. This allows very little room for an entrepreneur who is just starting out.
There is no simple solution to this problem. Corporations buy the inventors, but we need the inventors so the corporations can sell us products. Our current model of popular culture has us believe that we must have the biggest, fastest, and loudest machines on the market. Without them, we are left just shells of our former selves, or at least, that is what we are to believe. People will throw Pentium computers out at the dump, with the only justification being their new one is faster.
Many people are beginning to realize that perhaps this practice is, in fact, unneeded. They are uniting against the constant barrage of technology being thrown at us, and are going back to basics. A percentage of the population, albeit small, has realized that what we are getting rid of, due only to popular culture's standards, is perfectly functional. For much of it, there is no justification to upgrade. What these people are doing could be the answer to the problem. Conglomerates of businesses are dominating the market? Simply stop purchasing their products. Use the products that have already been bought. Sounds easy, right?....