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...As uncharitable as this may sound, your post reminds of the claim/belief that we'd be in space right now if the Library of Alexandria didn't burn down, which is a viewpoint that has met some skepticism in recent years.
Again, as I stated above, things would be nice if we had the slack to develop, but it's also perhaps inherently unstable. The whalefall is eventually consumed, removing pressure works until things get kinda crappy [epilepsy warning?], and there will always be those who envy you.
WWII was triggered in part by the Great Depression, which was brought about by a combination of some predatory practices on top of classical coordination failures, and even at that time, people were already reeling from WWI, in which many had died for practically nothing.
I think what I'm trying to say is that things can get better, but it often takes some real bad things happening before that to get there.
I'm not saying we would be scientifically much better off. War motivates people, they work in 12-hour shifts etc, but it also destroys lots of stuff and kills people (duh) , so it's a wash or close to it.
Where in there can you use the meme to predict stuff? Decade-level analysis from the 19th century: good times > good times > good times > good times (belle epoque) > bad times (WWI) > good times (roaring 20s) > bad times (great depression) > bad times (WWII) > good times > good times > good times > good times > good times >... > present
That's what I mean with the rain stuff. After good things, there will be bad things, and vice-versa. In a binary sequence, after a 0, there will be a 1 (unspoken: at some point). It boils down to 'things will not stay static forever'.
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