And sure I can spin up a home lab with more functionality and power than was even available 20 years ago. But what have I actually gained?

A home lab with more functionality and power than was even available 20 years ago.

Things such as:

Cheap mass storage and a home network connection with upload speeds that make hosting media streaming and 'cloud' storage out of your closet an affordable possibility.

Access to large, quality, high resolution displays that don't cost multiple thousands of dollars.

High performance portable computers that draw significantly less power.

Cheap, high capacity, battery technology to power said devices.

Mobile data networks with orders of magnitude more data bandwidth.

All of this is to say: The ability to own and control all of the technology that you depend on without needing to rent services from a corporation.

I don't need iCloud, when I have a 2Gb connection attached to a 24TB storage array. I can do better than Spotify, play the music that I want to listen to without serving me ads or providing my private data to be used by some profit-seeking company. I don't have to give away my privacy to Microsoft just to be able to have a functioning desktop PC. I don't require Amazon's storage and processing to have smart security cameras. Google isn't required for my smartphone to work, my cellular provider doesn't get to dictate which apps are permanently installed.

All of this is possible now for orders of magnitude less capital and operating expenses than it was 20 years ago.

I don't need to throw away my computer because Microsoft has decided that it's much easier to enforce control over their operating system if your hardware prevents you from modifying the software running on your machine. I don't have a drawer full of old Apple cables which were only created in order to sell you a $2 piece of copper for $39.99. My movie streaming service doesn't randomly decide that I need to pay another $5/mo or insert advertisements into my TV shows and I am not at risk of having access to my cloud storage permanently revoked because of some clause in a 700 page Terms of Service that changes every other week.

Technology is so much better, more private, safer and more affordable now. As long as you're willing to learn how to use it.

Unfortunately, the profit is almost entirely in fostering the world's population into a state of technological dependence on these proprietary services and devices. It's hard to convince someone to overcome their fear of a terminal when they can pay a monthly fee for the rest of their life in order to avoid it.