Thanks for your 'cryptic' response, @jbgarrison72.
All external circumstance (for individual as well as group) simply mirrors internal state... that latter drives the former, advanced AI and metallurgical breakthroughs notwithstanding.
Very true. But in their quest to make AI conscious, human beings are likely to be driven to fully understand consciousness and in the process could (hopefully) expand on their own consciousness.
Blessed be.