In my experience, most persons have an intuitive sense of where the human family is along its overall journey of development. The speed and consistency with which people come to this intuitive conclusion are so striking that it prompted me to look into adolescent psychology.
Teenagers are rebellious and want to prove their independence.
Humanity has been rebelling against nature for thousands of years, trying to prove that we are independent from it. Teenagers are reckless and tend to think they will live forever. The human family is acting recklessly in its rapid consumption of natural resources, behaving as if they would last forever. Teenagers are concerned with appearance and fitting in. Humans have a tendency to express our identity and status through material possessions.