The so-called Great Stagnation, the lack of big technology breakthroughs since 1970, the stagnation in physics, the stagnation of wages, the slower rate of growth of productivity, the lack of automation, the political paralysis that has lead to 50 years of under-funded infrastructure, all of these things combine to make a pretty good case against techno-optimism. Many people found it natural to be techno-optimists in 1930, for obvious reasons, given what they had just lived through. But nowadays techno-optimism is a matter of pure faith, like a religion.

The best book on this subject is "The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War" by Robert J. Gordon.

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-Princeton/d...