.. both of which are solidly science fiction. You might as well say "giant mechs are the bellwether of societal advancement, just look at Warhammer/Evangelion/G

.. both of which are solidly science fiction. You might as well say "giant mechs are the bellwether of societal advancement, just look at Warhammer/Evangelion/Gurren Lagann". It can equally be argued that efficiency of use of power is a bellwether of societal advancement, since wasting it will always be easier than making efficient use of it. Case in point, few people realize that humanity reached 1.9 on the Kardashev/Sagan scale (EG, we output more power than the entire Trappist star that exoplanet enthusiasts have been so excited to colonize) for 39 brief nanoseconds on October 30, 1961. But that certainly didn't make us an entire Kardashev rung more civilized for the same brief moment as we erased another huge portion of our natural environment.