I'm not quite convinced by the article, but I was thinking something economically-related as I was reading it. The economic system is now capitalist, with the main objective being the search for profits, and it seems that it's become really hard nowadays to get a research grant if it does not have a clear money-making application beyond it. As a result you have a lot of projects that will build on existing science or technology, but relatively few that can afford to take the risk to explore the unknown domain of fundamental research.