As if starvation and suffocating clouds of death dust weren't bad enough, the near-future of Interstellar also sees a reversal of much of the technological development of the past century or so. Much of this has been done consciously to keep humanity's gaze Earth-bound - faking the faking of the moon landings destroys any hope of space exploration. Various technical machines - Cooper's wife died of cancer due to it not being discovered in time - have been deemed useless, no longer functioning either out of conscious choice or general lack of interest. We've not just travelled back to the stone age though; cars and automated farming vehicles still work. What's happened with humanities lack of interest in certain technology? It's entirely possible that only farming-specific machines were kept as they were of the most pressing importance, but that still leaves the question as to whether it was a willing downgrade, or something gradual as things got worse. Potential Answer: As the reliance on basic crops increased, more and more people had to forsake just about every other element of life in favour of farming. NASA was probably one of the first to (officially) go, but costly MRI, which requires a specialist to operate, would be next.
