Originally Posted by
whalesurfer
This happened on December 17, 1903!
So in 114 years we went from a 120' long hop across a remote field in North Carolina to transcontinental flights and space shuttles roaming the space.
I'd say history shows something vastly opposite to what you're describing.
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It took 55 years to go from the 1903 Wright Flyer to the 707. And 55 years after that we had the 787. A large advance, but all at the margins. Better structure, better engine materials, better systems. But the basic science and engineering have not moved much since the 707. In fact it they have not moved much since the B-47 flew in 1948.
And sometimes we even go backwards. It was 59 years from the Wright Flyer to the A-12 (which lead to the SR-71). Yet here in 2017 the number of airplanes that can cruise above Mach 1 can be counted on one hand, and none of them are as fast or have the range of the A-12.
And in the hear and now there are no space shuttles roaming about in space.