I'm not certain why this is necessarily going to be a golden age. Eventually, the top will not be able to control who gets what information. Eventually, just about anyone will have the technology and

Your assumption is that given a certain set of conditions, only one result is possible. Quantum mechanics suggest that there can be multiple possible results given the same conditions. Some outcomes are

It has been delayed because most of the witnesses have to upgrade before a hardfork takes place. Many witnesses have not upgraded to the hardfork, yet. This is basically to prevent the developers from