The short answer: yes.
Long answer:
Humans thrive when their existence is at risk. That is of course achieved by war, but also by the capitalist society, especially the manipulated one we live in, maybe it would be different if it is more anarcho-capitlaistic.
However it is far from the only force that drives innovation and abundance of knowledge. I see a huge problem in IP, Copyright and patents. I think the mind-set that ideas belong to people is very hurtful to true scientific progress and that is why we see no innovation in our modern days, well except for some "digitalisation".