[sudo-discuss] Why so many different remote controls?

This email just came in as general inquiry on repair.org: ====== Hello, I'm a writer working on a story for the Washington Post and am getting in touch to see if The Repair Association might have someone who would be able to speak to the story I'm working on. The story is this: We're looking into how we wound up with so many remotes in our homes. The story is a bit on the history and the "why" of why our entertainment centers of the home have come to have a pile of remotes and why they don't all work together, how it came to be this way. I'm looking for experts who work on TVs and entertainment products that have an understanding of why we're here and why there haven't been solutions that keep the consumer in mind. Thanks for any assistance you're able to provide. ======= Does anyone here know how we arrived this cambrian explosion of IR remote codes? -Peter