Stross was talking about the state of the future; I think in this
conversation we’ve been staying closer to the present, which is weird enough to keep us busy. The present is where we are, after all; the future is completely unreal. We want to imagine a future that’s different, and of course it will be to one or another extent, but seldom in ways we can predict. We keep predicting because we’re bored with the present, we want the future to hurry up, dammit, and bring us something new.