Technically not much changed but the way we work and live is totally different because of the advances in tech. In 2000 internet was not everywhere; I was on holiday in LA in 2004 and the internet quality in hotels that advertised with internet was miserable and mostly unusable. Mobile devices sucked and we were still in the AI winter. Search engines in 2000 did deliver total drivel for programming related questions (and probably others).
Now my subscription allows me to use my 4g in most of the EU and the US, it works very well, wifi is everywhere so basically you do not have to remember any facts. Google AI recognises pictures and auto makes panoramas and videos from pictures. When I search anything programming the first hit is the answer. Children have smartphones and tablets and use them all the time. So do my parents and my 80+ old neighbours. There are millions of coders online instead of the tiny amount in 2000; starting a software services company in 2000 was a breeze (I did) to grow and get fortune 1000 clients as there simply was very little and most was crap; try that now. Startups are everywhere and a huge % of students see that as an option now. We can 3d print implants. Did you check games lately? I can go on and on.
Although tech only got faster and bigger the world is completely different. And that is because those 'marginal' enhancements in tech and science.
I'm thinking this must be an age thing. 15 years ago isn't a significant portion of my lifetime, so perhaps I see the progress in that time period as not being tremendous. Perhaps you're younger. I've been active in this business/space/industry since around 1975 and for me not a whole lot has changed. Sure today you can put a thing with the power of a VAX on your wrist, but we expected that to happen back in 1980. I moved into the house I live in now 15 years ago and immediately set out to build myself an internet connection. I used 802.11b products that are not too different to what we use today.
The one thing that has changed in the past 15 years that I see clearly is there is much more data available on the Internet, but that's just a simple adoption curve effect. Back in 1992 we had the Microsoft Developer Network on CD with a search application that ran on Windows. It was basically the same thing as Stack Overflow, except of course much slower to update and featuring contributions from vastly fewer people. But essentially the same thing. I even remember having discussions in 1992 with colleagues about how the MSDN would surely evolve to be Internet-based rather than delivered by mail on a CD.
Now my subscription allows me to use my 4g in most of the EU and the US, it works very well, wifi is everywhere so basically you do not have to remember any facts. Google AI recognises pictures and auto makes panoramas and videos from pictures. When I search anything programming the first hit is the answer. Children have smartphones and tablets and use them all the time. So do my parents and my 80+ old neighbours. There are millions of coders online instead of the tiny amount in 2000; starting a software services company in 2000 was a breeze (I did) to grow and get fortune 1000 clients as there simply was very little and most was crap; try that now. Startups are everywhere and a huge % of students see that as an option now. We can 3d print implants. Did you check games lately? I can go on and on.
Although tech only got faster and bigger the world is completely different. And that is because those 'marginal' enhancements in tech and science.