Complete lack of progress

Ally and I have been talking about how all the car ads go "oh the new holden facra..." and then all that's new is some stupid addition to the dashboard...why is it that in 100 years of automobiles we've hardly progressed past 4 or 5 doors, 4 wheels and a motor (oh, whoah, there's a computer under the bonnet now...big whoop!)...we still have to drive it, what about voice-controlled driving?...we still sit in the front and back...what about all in a circle, having drinks and nibblies as you go on your way?...they still use up our fossil fuels which are costing more and more (good, that might get people considering the ethics of skidding our natural resources away while they get fat but not happy...)...and, while we're on progress, how come air travel is exactly the same as it was when it began? Actually, it's worsened: there's no mistique or chic about flying...and i don't find the good folks in business and first class very alluring, i have to say...where's the super-fast-get-there-today-yesterday-tomorrow planes? And what about space travel...now there's THE biggest let down...you know I thought in my tender years that by the time I was 29 (as I am today) there would be regular space travel, an inhabited space station and maybe even teleporting. Instead, we've had nothing since the late 60s moon walks which are looking more and more fabricated...why is it that the old stuff hasn't moved on? Or worse, the old stuff was better! Case in point, television: I'm beginning to think that at its outset Australian television was at the cutting edge...now it's all trite pomp or sleazy crap...is this a reflection of where we're going as a society? Or of how much effort we make in our public lives? (Watch V for Vendetta and think of little johnny...)