The Depression: If Only Things Were That Good(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
The Depression: If Only Things Were That Good
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/sunday-review/the-depression-if-only-things-were-that-good.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/sunday-review/the-depression-if-only-things-were-that-good.html
During the Great Depression " the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s. Television and nylon stockings were invented. Refrigerators and washing machines turned into mass-market products. Railroads became faster and roads smoother and wider."
But if you had asked people during the Great Depression about economic or technological progress, I suspect most would say it was almost non-existent.
Today we have significant advances in robotics, energy development/conservation, and medicine. These and other fields may be later referred to in the same light as the authors examples in the great depression.