Sometimes we get confused by the difference between technological and scientific progress. When science makes progress it unlocks new S-curves that progress at an incredible pace until you get into the diminishing returns region. People complain of slowing progress but it was always slow, you just didn’t notice that nothing new was happening during the exponential take off of the S-curve, just furious optimization.
As far back as 2017 I copped a lot of flak for suggesting that the coming automation revolution will be great at copying office workers and artists but wont be in order of replacing the whole human race. A lot of the time moores law got thrown back in my face. But thats how this works, we unlock something new, we exploit it as far as possible, the shine wears off and we deal with the aftermath.