Does it feel like the overall progress of technology has been slower this decade compared to the prior 4?
The other day, I was watching a compilation of commercials from 2006, and this particular commercial stood out. The product was this very primitive version of a sliding keyboard phone, which had rounded edges and extra handles on the side. It was almost like a fusion of a sliding keyboard phone and a Gameboy Advance, and it really got me thinking about how quickly cellphones were evolving in the 2000’s. We went from flip phones in 2003 to sliding keyboard phones in 2006, to smartphones in 2008, to voice-activated smartphones in 2011. And it wasn’t just cellphones that were racing forward at that time, either. It seemed like there was a new version of Windows more or less every 3 years back then as well.
It seems as if ever since computers and microchips started getting big in the 80’s, technology has been on a non-stop race forward, but I can’t help but feel like things are starting to plateau. We no longer live in an age where technology enters a new generation every 3 years. A phone purchased in 2024 has the same functionality as one purchased in 2012, and you could say something similar for computers as well. Every decade has had some great innovation (personal computers, the internet, smartphones, VR), but so far it feels like the 2020’s haven’t yet had their big moment, and I’m wondering if it’s coming at all.
Is this it? Is this the decade where things finally start to level off after 40 years of progress? My experience is that perhaps it started slowing down quite a while ago. Over the past 6 or 7 years, I have owned three new laptops. However, they have all had about the same specs. The processor has been an Intel I-7 with the same amount of memory (16 gig) and the same size SSD drive. I haven’t noticed any difference other than that the price has been lower for each newer model.
It makes me wonder where the initial innovation came from for this technology. Was it homegrown, adopted, or reverse-engineered from some other source? Will another type of technology be required to take us to the next level? Why have we not made much progress on the idea of nanotechnology being the next giant leap?