Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I know this won’t be a popular point, but I think we have nearly all of human history as evidence that “magical believing” societies survive more effectively than not. I disagree. "more effectively than not" is an implicit comparison between "magical believing" societies and "non magical believing" (in other words, scientific) societies. Given the latter allows modern medicine, surgery, sanitation, mass food product…
Science has given many things, and as a professional research scientist, I help it continue to do so. I by no means think science should go away. However, it also created the ability for humanity to destroy itself: the nuclear bomb, climate change, and plenty of other existential threats. Also there are plenty of non-tech tribes which display tremendous lifespans. To my knowledge, the common threads among centenarian…
Would it be better to not have any knowledge at all and be at the mercy of nature?
Acquiring power always comes together with the possibility of misuse. Maybe those who never got as far as we got would prefer to eventually get wiped out by nature (and it's gonna happen either way, what with the heat death and all that). I'd still prefer to have lived to know the electron than the alternative