At the bottom of the ladder, you’re starving and you better find a way to eat.

As you struggle up the ladder, you compete for resources and you better be inventive to survive or you get killed by the competition (extreme case of last resorts being war).

After you get past the survival-agression stage, you dream loftier goals-ambitions (Pres. Kennedy - put a man on the moon) which spurs countless technological advances which have permeated into consumer products benefiting the common man.

Do you need a war for tech advances? No, rather than being driven by the need for survival, I would prefer being driven by the goals of ambitious dreamers prepared to acheive the impossible. (The “impossible” of yesterday is the “common place” of today).