I think that pretty much everything we work on (as tecchies) is the endpoint of a very long timeline.

Every advancement stands on the shoulders of those that came before. Maybe we can run an LLM, because some Roman architect figured out how to make an aqueduct stay up in a seismically-active area.

If you watch James Burke's Connections[0], you get a feel for it (I think some of them are a bit of a stretch, but I really enjoyed it).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series...