Egregoros

Wild that literally nobody makes these things anymore.

20 years ago they were everywhere, $100.

Now there's no factories left. All of the high voltage electronics are kind of bespoke and there aren't really supply chains for them anymore, but you COULD make them again.

The real kicker is the tube, the color mask and phosphor coating is a disaster. And what's more, the machines that made them are now archaic. Even if you were able to get one, keeping it maintained and working properly is a skill unto itself. Generally production engineers will always build new lines using only current era (CNC) machines for which the spare parts and knowhow are widely available.

This is an important little lesson that technological capabilities are not to be taken for granted. 20 years is long enough for a technology to really basically just vanish and once it's gone, you would need to go through a whole new R&D process if you ever wanted to bring it back.

>>Oh I don't really miss them. And I don't really have an opinion about screen size because I don't watch TV at all.

I don't watch TV either but my twin 27" 120hz LCD panels I CAD on say hello. And the 52" TV I game on 4k send its regards.

>>It's more thinking about how a technology can be kind of "lost" and it's hard to bootstrap again.

It is not lost, it is 1000% impractical nowadays, two very different things, is like using cassette tapes in the age of digital computers with high definition audio and sophisticated audio file formats, or using floppies to exchange files in the age of the USB drive.

There are technologies like the CRTs that lose their "raison d'etre" once something else smaller and better is available, can you imagine a nintendo switch with a CRT? or a CRT in a combat jet? or a mobile phone with a CRT like the Pipboy?

Technologies that truly matter which are not irrelevant like the internal combustion engine, or how to manufacture tires not only aren't lost, they are being perfected all the time.

Counterpoint: CRT televisions.

Steam turbines in powerplants are still "state of the art". There is supercritical CO2 on the horizon, but it's still on the horizon.

Already certain engine parts are becoming hard to find, like flat-tappet lifters. Everyone has moved to roller lifters since ages ago, so flat-tappet nobody really makes them anymore - and of course there's China junk that is BAD BAD BAD because it's not hardened correctly and doesn't have the right crown and it will wipe your engine out on first start.

There's stuff like Chevy small block that you'll "always" be able to get rebuild kits for, but even already a lot of post-2000 cars are just not repairable enough that anyone is going to keep rebuild parts on the shelf after they age out.

What I can realistically see happening is engines become a classic / antique thing, and you need quite a bit of money to get one, and the replacement parts are also fairly expensive.