Why has infrastructure and technology developed so quickly in the passed century but not so much before?

Question

Why has infrastructure and technology developed so quickly in the passed century but not so much before?

In: 3

Answer 1

Basically, oil and liquid hydrocarbons. That’s the short answer.

It allowed us to go farther and faster in cars and planes and develop the internal combustion engine. It allowed us to burn it for producing energy for electricity. It allowed for the creation of plastics which are necessary for modern microchips and computing hardware.

We’d be SOL without oil