As long as OIL remains king we will never advance in technology, OIL can't power next gen technology.
basic next gen technology needs nuclear fusion, OIL is 19th/20th century tech. we are SOO behind we want to use solar panels, bitch we can just make a solar panel satellite and put them close to the sun, we already have wireless charging.
We know that nation states strategically hide the true extent of their current technology & research.
People speculate about what's hidden - cancer cures, free energy, AGI, nano-medicine, nano-surveillance, etc .. but given that the biggest predictor of civilizational growth is the cost & access to energy, I would NOT be surprised if we were sitting on some kind of free or near-free energy tech.
Weapons & energy are kingmakers. You want your best & brightest on that shit