User blog comment:Withersoul/How would man have fought against the grim before using dust?/@comment-10390252-20130902144144/@comment-15108745-20130902151337

Well, one can account for the rapid development by looking at how much our own world has changed between the years of 1850 to 2000. I'm sure that the discovery of Dust boosted progress as well. It's a bit like The Legend of Korra in that regard. Things changed rapidly in the course of several generations.