I remember sleeping without pads; it's not a fond memory. However, I also remember the evolution: no pad, to air mattresses (my first one was a "borrowed" pool float), to closed cell pads, to Thermarest, and now back to air mattresses (albeit insulated, this time.)

The best recent example of taking old technology and giving it a new "cool" twist is Osprey's Atmos and Exos series packs. (This is not an attempt to discredit Osprey; the packs are well designed, functional, and - from all reports - perform very well.)

Back in the 70's and 80's we had external frame packs that had been pretty well perfected; they did the job, were reasonably well ventilated, and tended to bounce around a little and move opposite the direction you were turning.

Then came internals, and they got pretty well perfected.

So, what to do to shake up the market? Enter the Atmos and Exos series packs: they look like internal frame packs, with an innovative "trampoline" backpad and "perimeter" suspension element, with cutouts in the pack cloth so air could get to your back. I got one and, after a few hikes, discovered that the pack is really a modernized variation of my first external frame pack - it had the same bounce and tendency to move against my turns. (Of course, it was about 3 pounds lighter, had more capacity, and the pockets were much more usable.) Revolutionary design? No. Improved re-tread? Yes.

I guess our elders were right: the more things change, the more they stay the same. (Or, for us children of the 60's: what goes around comes around.)

I don't see this as a nefarious cabal conspiring against us poor packers - it's the same kind of marketing and design that goes on in all industries, from soap to cars to housing. It's that constant human desire to tinker; often, the tinkering results in small improvements to existing designs. After enough tinkering, something really innovative sometimes comes along. (Thomas Edison was probably the ultimate tinkerer.)