Lex, <br><br>I'd love to hear your thoughts on this little topic rarely discussed.  <br><br>The difference between progress of our civilization since year 1960, that's 60 years exactly, compared to the progress from 1900 to 1960.  If the rate of our progress is accelerating, why does it seem like going from horse drawn carriages at the end of 19th century to nuclear weapons and space exploration and the invention of computers by 1960, is much more of an absolute gain in knowledge and skills across all fronts, compared to the starting point, than the progress we made in the latter years, in the same amount of time at that.  I mean look at us, we are stuck in time, still trying to solve problems we were faced with 60 years ago.  <br><br>60's were the golden age of engineering thought.  Today, NASA can't even rebuild the old engines because the skills are lost.  We went virtual.  No one solves problems mechanically anymore.  There is a gap between the hard skills of the old generation and the soft knowledge of the new.  <br><br>What if we went off course.  What if the reason why we haven't been able to invent a better battery, for example, is due to the change in the way we think?<br><br>Lastly, can exponential acceleration continue indefinitely?  What happens when it goes vertical?  We all know what that means in economic terms, a bubble.<br><br>Have we burst our bubble and had an intellectual recession?<br><br>If not, how long till we do, and what is that going to look like?