New technologies start out less efficient than existing technologies. Early cars were less efficient than horses. Early computers were less efficient than a room full of people doing math by hand (when you account for the time building, programming and debugging the computer before anyone knew how to do those things).

That doesn't mean we shouldn't ever develop anything new. The clunky inefficient phase is a necessary step to figure out how to get to the sleek, efficient phase. It's a nonlinear process. The slope is pretty flat at the beginning of the exponential. Shortsighted people often mistake this for failure.