Why? Private capital especially VC is in general bad for humanity in this late stage of Capitalism. I have no doubt of that.
While progress might appear slower, it's because the low hanging fruit have been plucked and we're working on much harder things.
Autonomous helicopters on Mars and giant 45 degree Kelvin mirrors at LaGrange points are harder than plumbing. Nevermind EUV lithography. Or the previously mentioned rapid drug development.
It's pretty remarkable how far we've come in just the last ten years.
Even the stupid things like endless on-demand entertainment are great. And travel, communication, keeping memories, live entertainment. They didn't have drone shows or voice changing VRChat VTubers.
I'd prefer to live in today's world over the Victorian era. And the coming generations will have it even better.