Hard to know if pc or smart phone proliferation or widespread internet access as an example would've ever occurred in that alternative universe, and who is the arbiter of determining what is such a need versus luxury?

At the same time will one argue these aren't needs, but mass communication and aggregation of all human knowledge at our fingertips is certainly the next step from the Gutenberg Press. Liberation of communication and knowledge to masses certainly is pursuant to a need in my mind, yeah?

Such things weren't necessarily known needs until they manifested through innovation in the first place, right?

But should we all simply revert back to Hunter-gatherering aborigines with the lowest impact possible?

I guess in my mind we all have musical instruments or video games our toys be it dirt bikes, etc., which are certainly luxuries of the modern era. The constraints should of course be limited by whether we can (a) take care of the poorest amongst us, (b) be the best stewards of our environment as we can, and (c) ensure justice and equality is applied to all.

So maybe we get phones and games and musical instruments; but just lower the ceiling a bit as other nations with the highest life satisfaction in the world have shown can be done. That's the other nice thing about mirroring these models; they're actually tangible and proven to work at a nation-state scale.

Might certain inventions or discoveries become so positively consequential to society they become nationalized and in the public domain? Take starlink for example, or 5G cellular that gives rural and city access alike to communication and knowledge and therefore potential and opportunity.