Richie: It may be exacerbated by the "MTV-generation" effect of ever more immediate results. There was a show called "Life On Mars" in the UK about a 2005-era cop waking up in 1973 and the look on his face when they said the fingerprint results from Scotland Yard would be back in TWO WEEKS was priceless.

We want results (or at least progress) NOW.

We have facial recognition, fingerprint and retina scanners, ATM cards, the internet, satellite communications. Wikipedia and Snopes have supplanted the Encyclopedias of our youth.

Cook food in an hour? Feh! Where's my microwave?

Phones - Landlines? How quaint!

In the 1960s, it took a while to organize a protest. Now you can do it via flash-mob and discuss the results over Skype!

So I think, over time, our expectations are changing. Our "internal chronometers" have been irrevocably affected.