It does not. It fades, gets lost. Where are the Steve Wozniaks and bill gates? Where are the people truely understanding this stuff. Where are the people who can optimize code like back in the days?
For vast swaths of human mind, popular opinion tended to see the future as bleak and the past as filled with greater men, accomplishments, etc - the good days are behind us. Post industrial revolution thinking and adoption of science has mostly changed that opinion to hope - the good days are ahead of us.
As for people who can optimize code like back in the day: I am not sure where you work, but I bet if you look at the best engineers in the best tech companies today (google/ Facebook / Netflix / amazon / Uber / palantir) you’ll find a lot to be impressed with.