It's not just for its influence on us, but to know that we can play a part in it, to understand the influence that we have outside our own existence.
These companies know that at their current size they're not going to be big enough to have the necessary capital, and they don't have enough spectrum to get to the third generation.
It's a heavy weight, the camera. Now we have modern and lightweight, small plastic cameras, but in the '70s they were heavy metal.