I believe the seemingly "fast" advances in technology are simply the result of a growing population using technology that exponentially increases
R&D. I put "fast" in quotes because it is hard to really say whether we are advancing slow or fast unless we have another species (ET) to compare
our advancements to. For all we know, we could be advancing rather slowly in the grand scheme of things.
The more tools we invent, the more tools we have in our arsenal to bring about more inventions. In the modern world, computers are probably the first
thing that comes to mind when thinking about state of the art technology. Think of all the ways they speed up data analyzation, record keeping,
communication, etc. and all the things we can use them for that scientists and inventors in the pre-20th century world would have killed to have.
IMO, this is simply a natural stage of evolution of an intelligent species. We had the stone age, bronze age, iron age, etc. Each one brought about
new technology and new ideas which, at the time, probably seemed just as amazing and "out of this world" to the inhabitants of those time periods as
our latest technology does to us.
Im waiting for the day that they invent a way to hook an iPod up to itself. Can you say "implosion followed by a black hole"?