mRNA vaccines. Net positive power output from fusion. Off the top of my head.

I agree with your concept of capitalism killing innovation and forcing people into dead-end jobs. But that doesn't mean technical innovation is dead. Just means it's not progressing optimally and not benefiting the right people.

What we're really fucking up is the ramp from fossil to advanced energy sources that could enable massive outward expansion into the solar system. The billionaires are forgetting that a larger piece of a smaller pie is still less pie.

In 2025, most everyone in the world can translate foreign languages at the press of a button. I dislike Gwern since he's a bigot, but I like his article, "My Ordinary Life: Improvements Since the 1990s."