In terms of material progress, you need to understand fundamentals before you can apply them.<p>There are only so many fundamental things about the universe. We are still learning, it&#x27;s true. But we&#x27;ve pushed the darkness back on a lot of fronts since the late 1800s. You kind of expect that once science takes a hold there will be fewer mysteries.<p>As it happens, the late 1800s and early 1900s were boom times for fundamental science. Radioactivity, Relativity, Quantum, and so on.<p>Once you have the fundamentals, you need some economic organisation to occur before thing like mobile phones appear. People need to be figuring out exactly how the theories will be useful, what kinds of work there will be in the area, and so forth. Much of what we&#x27;ve seen lately is this, finding niches for things we know about the natural world.<p>I can understand the author&#x27;s disappointment. Not many things that are new are undreamed of. But remember your imagination depends on how you think the world works, and we now know more about that.