... over the decades.

Sometime over a hundred years ago Senators wanted to close the Patent Office because they thought everything had been invented. Around 1900, a professor proved that heavier than air (not balloons) machines would never fly.

And there is currently NO "stagnation in technological development".

In any case, even if our current knowledge of physics is the limit, that does not stop discoveries in biology or technological development. And it most especially does not lead to nihilism. If we have to live with our incredible cars and planes and internet and robots and music and movies we would be just fine: well cared for and well entertained.

If there are no warp drives or "replicators" the human race will not fall apart. That Varney dwells on Star Trek technology speaks volumes about the limitations of his imagination.

Logically, lack of progress on extremely complex problems does not mean progress is impossible.

IANS: I ain't no scientist.

I'll also say I am just a dabbler in history, but it is my impression that over the centuries and millennia, prophets have proclaimed that there is nothing new to learn. Don't study the stars, don't study those little amimalcules, Newton's physics is all anyone needs to know. Get back to your religious texts or whatever.

The author talks about lack of progress since the 1970s as if this is some significant period of time in humanity's steps towards perfection. I think it's a rather short period and I think a lot of science has happened during this period. Perhaps not the science that he considers significant.

mRNA understanding and technology is, of course, one of those huge leaps made (along with most genetic science) during this period.