I am not sure previous epochs and generations ever had to face this kind of active throttling of creativity and problem solving capacity. Maybe they did and its just that the context and feeling of despair is lost to us due to distance.
But in any case due to the cumulative nature of both knowledge and our own aggravating problems with sustainability, the impact of this socioeconomic malfunction is probably the gravest its ever been.
There are very few hints we can escape the stranglehold (as in, effective organizational forms or governance that are immune to this regressive cancer).
It makes me wonder what our future will look like? Are we doomed to climate collapse on this planet? In which case, is space-faring our future?
To further your point– if we can't even get our act together on this planet, what evidence is there that we could get our act together in space?
I think the survivors of these early centuries of the third millennium will be forced into space. By this point infrastructure from mining and refining rare-earth minerals will be in place. It will be survivable, but it won't be comfortable. It may never be.
Our debut as a space-faring species will mark a long dark age in our history. With no evidence that we can create microgravity, terraform, travel even close to half the speed of light, or put ourselves into some form of abeyance (cryosleep)– we will become divided, isolated, and oppressed to a degree we never have in our history. We will struggle for every resource we currently take for granted.
I have no doubt that humanity in some form will continue to survive, but I don't think it will be comfortable or ideal.
Even before patents there were actively ringfenced technologies by state actors (silk comes to mind).
But todays supression feels almost catholic in its reach across the economy. Which is imho directly linked to digital tech being both a set of sectoral technologies and the universal means of information exchange.
But in any case due to the cumulative nature of both knowledge and our own aggravating problems with sustainability, the impact of this socioeconomic malfunction is probably the gravest its ever been.
There are very few hints we can escape the stranglehold (as in, effective organizational forms or governance that are immune to this regressive cancer).