I think that’s understating things quite a bit, given the massive difference in the evolved cognitive capacities between hyenas and humans. The point of course is that natural selection involves all environmental pressures, when we live in relatively safe post industrialised countries, a lot of the pressures we evolved under are alleviated, and we have far more time to examine morality than the majority of our forebears. many believe this however is veneer that is easily “scraped away”, certainly Golding thought so.
Well that seems contradictory, but I don’t see why we would exchange a safer easier existence for a hard dangerous feral one.
The acclamation of individual wealth preceded the industrial revolution, we live in hierarchical societies long before that, with wealth being controlled by a tiny minority. Not sure what you mean by “the greater majority fell into the trap of endless prosperity.” However even the most cynical critic would have to admit that people on the whole in developed nations live longer safer lives, how satisfying we find them is entirely subjective I suppose, but I’d personally not exchange it for a feral existence in a small group of hunter gatherers.
The evidence suggests it is not, there is a very good work called “The Better Angels of Our Nature” by Steven Pinker. On the whole and even allowing for the catastrophic loss of life and violence of two devastating world wars, there is per capita less violence now than at any point in human history.