There are futurists who are far, far too optimistic about the rate of technological progress, and others who are too vastly too pessimistic.

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Billionaire Peter Thiel, for example, argues that despite spectacular advances in computer-related fields, technological progress has actually stalled because the internal combustion engine still rules our highways, the cancer death rate has barely changed since 1971, and the top speed at which people can travel has ceased to improve.

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