Spending profits on stock buybacks and bonuses is literally the opposite of wanting to grow.

No they do not. They need to break even only. Profit is the result of charging customers too much, paying employees too little, or enshitification.

1984 was a great book, but its Brave New World that captures the current state of things a bit better. The main difference being that in Brave New World people welcome the technologies as conveniences, ignoring the implications until it’s too late.

That has already begun, we are at least 10 years in.

If you are in dire need, and haven’t already, try finding a local salvage yard (junkyard, breakers yard, etc. depending on your location) and pulling the parts you need from there.

Betas outlived VHSs by several years. It wasn’t Betas that caused Sony to act like that with BluRays, it was DATs.