I think it's hard for us to imagine what we could have if not for NAT.
Just as an example, any device on your home network could have a web interface which you could access from anywhere using a web browser. All the smart light bulbs and things which need some stupid account on some service could be made so they're controlled by the user instead of some company.
I've set up things like this on my home network but it's a pain because I need to deal with port forwarding, and if I have more than one device I need to use a reverse proxy.
Just as an example, any device on your home network could have a web interface which you could access from anywhere using a web browser. All the smart light bulbs and things which need some stupid account on some service could be made so they're controlled by the user instead of some company.
I've set up things like this on my home network but it's a pain because I need to deal with port forwarding, and if I have more than one device I need to use a reverse proxy.