Regulation indeed limits our productivity & advances.
The other factor in not already being in the future imagined decades ago: we discovered much of “the future” actually was boring, costly, or otherwise undesirable. “2001”’s orbiting hotel offered nothing but a great view, or a stopover on the way to the Moon. Getting to the Moon is cool, but being there isn’t - it’s inert dead rocks amid radiation extremes. Flying cars (in the form predicted) are possible, but the space & cost & training needed are more trouble than worth; scaled-up human-carrying drones ARE looking quite possible, in part because of the computing power reaching the point where you tell it where to go and it takes care of piloting for you (autonomous flight being actually easier than autonomous ground-driving). In all of these, the energy costs are staggering relative to the benefits; you’ll get a lot more done by staying on the ground.
What wasn’t expected was the Information Age. Instant worldwide communication using a pocket-sized magic slate, coupled with staggering data storage capacities, opened up possibilities which the past’s futurists couldn’t predict.
With that context - the unexpected Information Age supplanting the predicted Space Age (because cat videos are more interesting than moon rocks) - consider what will happen when the _next_ unexpected development occurs.
Good points, all.