I guess it would be correct to say: Many reasons and very hard for me with my knowledge to judge which ones had the most effect. But since it is an interesting

I guess it would be correct to say: Many reasons and very hard for me with my knowledge to judge which ones had the most effect. But since it is an interesting question I will throw a guess at it. I think reading through the history we may owe a lot to WWII. One of the cruelest thing ever happened to humans may have redirected their global way of living together. As soon as the competition got redirected a bit towards tools which required more investment in science many miracles like medical, space and communication advancement happened. One of my favorite yet most saddest quotes which may relate to above would be when Neil deGrasse Tyson said that (not exact word order): "Unfortunately no discoveries have ever been made for the sake of science all have been driven from war or other secondary factors.". So to sum up, we have been going into the loop of advancement & war destruction for many centuries. I guess in last 100 (or 75) years we did it less, so the 'secret' is there.