You ask if the companies already have technology that is way ahead of what they are selling so they can just string as along and make more money. That's not really the case, because these companies are all in competition and want to beat out the other guy with the next big sell. What they do however to squeeze more cash out of us is make low quality, generally non repairable disposable products so we have to keep buying them, even when we abstain from getting the next big thing. Planned obsolescence and all that. Your quandary over the soul is one I have contemplated as well. I bring you an even weirder idea. If we could in the future transmit assemblies of matter in such a way, then we would also be able to duplicate it. So what if we made copies of ourselves? Would we have multiple souls, or just one and a bunch of clones that think they are us? I suppose we will find out someday.