I have a blog post that I've been sketching out in my head about this whole area of Tools for Thought, future of computing, cybernetics, etc. Basically I find that the thoughtleaders of this space seem to always claim that the true manifestation of their ideas is just out of reach (Project Xanadu, memex, object oriented programming, etc.), but then never deliver this true manifestation. Indeed it's rather remarkable…
From my perspective (first eng at Notion), I think what the sales pitch that really captures people's imagination is these situations where "the whole is equal to more than the sum of it's parts". That's what Engelbart and Kay really demonstrated with their work. It preys on the Gambler's fallacy too, just like AI: building something hoping for an unexpected outsized reward.
Where these inspirations start to fall flat is when you start focusing on solving an actual problem. Notion, for example, didn't really solve any specific problems in the beginning that didn't already have a solution available. Most people are interested in solving a problem so they can move on and never return to it. They don't bother to sharpen their axe if they only have one tree to chop down, so they just get the job done and move on.
But what about the one person who tirelessly sharpens their axe so they can chop down a tree in one swipe? What is actually motivating this person to spend all of this effort just to chop down a single tree? Maybe this isn't the perfect analogy, but my point is that many of these ideas start out more like an art project than a startup company. Because too much focus on solving a problem leads "good enough is the enemy of great".
Going from art project to actual product requires a lot more work that people tend to realize. And in my experience, that process tends to siphon away a lot of inspirational energy. At least, this has been my personal experience. Having left Notion almost 2 years ago, I've been finding it hard to motivate myself to build another sausage factory.