The Power vs. Technology

[R'eon]

Before the Breaking of the World there were numerous listings of what we could only assume were technological creations - shocklances, stasis boxes, transports , blah blah blah.

But why bother?

Ter'angreal can be created to allow non-channellers to do or mimic things with the power, and mechanical things are prone to breakdowns.

Why bother making a plow, when you could turn the land using the power of a Ter'angreal that does it for you?

[Elayne Sedai]

I think it's because not everyone has one to use. people who could not channel didn't always have a handy dandy Ter'angreal to use. In the Book That RJ wrote with Teresa Patterson(called The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time) They mention in it that they did a lot of things just to show they could.
THOSE SHOW OFFS!

[Theoban]

It could also be that shocklances etc. where ter'angreal as well, there's no evidence to show either way.

[Jacob]

I've always assumed that shocklances, showings etc. were made/used the power. Even if they weren't, most people probably assumed such. This would mean that for most people, technological progress was = use of the Power. Everybody would simply assume that no tech progess could be done by plain mortals. And the Aes Sedai never really tried to make any new things with the power. There seemed to have been a general feeling among Aes Sedai that if it hadn't been done during the age of legends, it couldn't be done. Thus, if you want progress, you should look to the past and try and figure out what it was that the people in the age of legends had done, and how they had done it, rather than try to work something out from scratch yourself.