I think you’re missing the basic premise of the article. He’s saying there was a future that was “promised” which involved jet packs, flying cars, et al. That

I think you’re missing the basic premise of the article. He’s saying there was a future that was “promised” which involved jet packs, flying cars, et al. That future never materialized and that is the topic of the article. That doesn’t downplay what we have accomplished. In fact the author’s primary point seems to be a lot of these things didn’t materialize because people simply weren’t really interested in them. Where as they are interested in say...an iPhone.