Why so little technological advancement in ME?

[Earendilyon]

Mhoram, the last 500 years or so of our history (and especially of the West) are exceptionally compared to the thousands years of history before. Because of some reason, Man began inventing new things, improving them, improving the improved articles and so on, till we're at the level we are now. I'm quite sure good historical studies have been dedicated to this phenomenon. I know for certain there are historical studies around on the topic why the West advanced so rapidly as compared to other regions of this earth (e.g. China and the Arabs were far more advanced than the West at the end of the Mediaeval period). Also remember: we may have this high level of technological advancement, the major part of the world's population hasn't. They live in the same circumstances as did their forebears a couple of millennia ago.
For some reason, the peoples of Middle Eart had not this internal drive for technological advancement. The Elves even wanted to hold what they had from the beginning. Like Tolkien himself, they disliked this technological "advancement".

[ April 11, 2002: Message edited by: Earendilyon ]