Can progress be faster?

What did people living a century ago have as an idea of the future?
At that time, the light bulb hadn't been invented yet, large Helium balloons ruled the skies, and telegraph lines were the only method of long distance communication.
No one back then, even the futuristic minds would never have imagined what the world would look like a century later. From computers, to supersonic jets...from the internet to heart surgery, from sending robots to Mars and mapping the human genome...
But what does the future look like to us now? Is it possible to even take a guess for a hundred years later? what about a thousand?
There are very promising short term developments in the areas of science, medicine, computing and engineering. But since the first always precedes the latter three, I will focus on science.
In the next fifty years, the world energy problem will be solved. Commercial nuclear fusion reactors and renewable energy sources would power the the world. Nanotechnology will enable us to manufacture materials with new and interesting properties, from more efficient solar cells to more efficient drug delivery systems, to supercomputers. With a sustainable electricity source, electric vehicles will replace current petroleum cars and planes and rockets will be run on electricity or directly by nuclear power. These are all very short term goals, already on the verge of coming true in the next fifty years.
But progress is simply not being made fast enough. Breakthroughs are done by science, but scientists only form a very small ratio of careers in the 21st century. With sufficient funding and human resources, the 50 year dream can be achieved in less than 10 years. This is an issue a first world country should address...
But what about second and third world countries? Full of people still stuck with the ideology of their ancestors, held back by religious and cultural obstacles? Those brainwashed against rational thinking...
The reason I'm bringing this up, is because third world countries contribute the most to the current human population...and we should look for ways to harvest the scientific minds that are not flourishing, simply because of environmental factors...
Ok, Lio out...I'll finish it later :)