I don't think the average people from the 1600s cared much about John Napier and his treaty on logarithms published in 1614.
But we care a lot about logarithms now.
Maybe people never cared about current mathematics. Maybe that's just the pace of progress.
If most of our current problems are solved by results from 50 years ago, could it just be that our future problems will be solved by results from right now?
Maybe not the average butcher or baker, but to engineers and scientists it was incredibly important.
The slide rule was invented just a few years later based on Napier's work and was used continuously for the next 350 years, until the invention of the modern calculator/computer.
I don't think I disagree with your overall point I just think you chose the worst example :)
But we care a lot about logarithms now.
Maybe people never cared about current mathematics. Maybe that's just the pace of progress.
If most of our current problems are solved by results from 50 years ago, could it just be that our future problems will be solved by results from right now?