Maybe their technology is still monopolized by private enterprises but at least they wouldn't still be racing toward complete annihilation and killing each other over some black goo buried in the ground. I'd like to see the V8 engine that gets your ass from earth to Alpha Centauri in one lifetime. No freakin way. Repressed science is gonna have to be let up for air. The energy monopolists have been buying up patents for alternative angry systems for decades and shelving them never to be seen again.
Necessity is the mother of invention.