[danaris]

But to the extent that it has stalled out, a huge factor in that is, again, capitalism: so much of the technological progress since WWII was built on top of the fundamental research that was being funded largely by the US government. And since around the 1980s (hm, I wonder who might've been in office then?), that funding has been steadily reduced, and now effectively eliminated under Trump.

In parallel with this, we've seen the massive consolidation of all industries, but especially the tech industry, and what does a giant behemoth monopolist/oligarch want? It's not to move science and technology forward; that would be much too risky, and could even lead to an upstart disrupting them! No; it's to make tiny incremental improvements to keep people happy, while raking in money just for being on top of the heap.