It is difficult to over look the huge burst of technological advancements made as a result of WW2. Someone once noted that war can have the effect of removing old entrenched leadership and ideas thru necessity - or just because they got killed off!
I am also interested in the 'Breakaway Civilization" idea ( historian Richard Dolan) in which huge advances are kept secret to maintain control of society. Before he died, Ben Rich (Lockheed) said ( off camera) that 'we could take ET home' and spoke of enormous advances, not shared with the public.
