So it just confuses me why in 200 years basically everything is the same as it was at the beginning of the world. I know it's a game and everything but it seems like they should.

Any reason for this other than bethesda not changing it?

Prepare be swarmed by the ever prevalent "magic nullifies need for progress" argument. Tamriel has been stagnent for far longer than two hundred years, its been four ERA's of the same thing basically.

Well, there have been certain, but slow, advancements (the Orrery, for example). In TES, people can heal diseases by praying, shoot fire out of their hands, levitate. When magic is abundant and the deities that people worship actually exist in one way or another and even interact with mortals, science tends to take a backseat.

Since you're in the Lore forum, I'm assuming you want an in-universe explanation.

The beginning of the world was different. Magic wasn't readily available to the common folk (which we're seeing a bit of a return to, in Skyrim), for starters; the importance of magic should not be underestimated, as well. In one of the books, I believe something along the lines of the following was said: "Why build a better bridge, when a mage can just teleport you to the other side?"

Saying that "science takes a back seat" is to do a large disservice to the nature of magic within the TES-verse. Magic IS their science, mages the scientists. They conduct experiments, unveil the mysteries of the universe, and improve the quality of life when they decide to share... much like real-world "science".

Other than saying that, unless there's a specific area of technology or philosophy that you have noticed hasn't seemed to evolve adequately, I can't think of a really good place to start. Maybe somebody else will come along who can.