It is not correct that a bunch of tech-geniuses keep saving us from the brink of disaster. Which wouldn't be a disaster anyway, just a slow down.

Most, if not all, "new" technologies are not new at all. They have been thought, and researched and tried years and even decades before, but they were too expensive, or required extensive changes to other hardware, or were unreliable, or the technology to mass produce it was not yet available. Usually, it all boils down to costs.

Now, whenever we reach an impasse in ANY area of tech, be it hard-drives or sanitary-towels, companies which need to keep growing to post better and better quarters, accept those costs as investment and embrace the "new" technologies.