If you want to see how much CGI animation has progressed over the years, all you need to do is pop in any movie that’s been recently made and compare it to a title from ten years ago.
You cannot rely on memory for this, and I’m telling you, the way you fondly remember the first Toy Story in your mind is completely different from what it actually looks like by today’s standards.
This is pretty much the story of modern-day technology, however. Look back at the iPhone 4. There’s no way you’d pay $650 for that phone today because your money will get you so much more. You wouldn’t stand for the photo quality on that phone, or the screen size and resolution, and certainly not the old 40-pin proprietary charger Apple rammed down our throats. Well, they’re still using proprietary chargers that are apparently made out of peanut brittle, so there’s that.
Even though we all know tech-growth is exponential, it’s kind of hard to appreciate just how much we’ve accomplished as a species until we’re hit in the face with that evidence.