Well for one thing technology has had to "dumbed" down for average consumer, that in itself will dampen big advances like we used to have. It seems to me that we were smarter on the whole when men used slide rules to build things, you REALLY had to know what you were doing. In the age of point of point and click, it's no wonder we aren't progressing more rapidly.
On the other hand, technological evolution does seem to go in fits and spurts, it takes a while for a culture to "digest" new technologies and then want more. Right now in the age of consumerism, we have fabulous technology at our fingertips, game consoles that rival supercomputers of 20 years ago, cell phones that do extraordinary tasks, big ass TV's that hang on the wall, Mp3 players the size of matchboxes, sure it's no flying car, but would you really want your dumb ass neighbor to be buzzing your house everyday anyway?
patience my padawan, patience....
