The history of innovation compounds. One cannot improve on what hasn't been invented yet, but afterward, it can happen at any time afterward, even if the unimproved original has since been rendered obsolete.
If you think of it in terms of "200 years ago" versus "200 years from now" you might think there would be equal magnitudes of progress. But now is 200 years since 1818, and 2218 is 400 years from 1818 AND 200 years from now. The future has more to build on, and taller shoulders to stand on.
The center of history, at the exact moment where as much has changed since the idea "maybe we could just plant some seeds between the Tigris and Euphrates, and maybe not wander around so much," and from then until the present, may be shorter than 50 years ago, and getting closer every year. Thousands of years on one side of the balance, and tens of years on the other. With that in mind, today may be as different from 1818 as 2038 is from today. 2218 would be just inconceivable.
