For most of history, there was no progress to make and nothing to learn. Religion provided stability. That's pretty good if you're going nowhere. Who, 1000 year

For most of history, there was no progress to make and nothing to learn. Religion provided stability. That's pretty good if you're going nowhere. Who, 1000 years ago, could have predicted the industrial revolution or anything remotely like it? Science had almost no relevance to real life until maybe 100-200 years ago. Before that it was pretty much just imagining stuff for fun. Who could have expected that to lead anywhere useful?