As Vincent De Marcos watches a barge carry off a supersonic airliner to a museum in November 2003, he can't help but think: The old boat still has a place in the world, but the Concorde apparently does not.

For the first time in the history of transportation, distances have become longer, and it feels like a funeral-only they are burying the future instead of a person.

No one seems to care, but sixteen years later Vincent still can't help thinking about what the world has lost. To him, we still live in the past, and smartphones and tablets, as amazing as they are, will...