@alacaelum
I don't disagree that this little arc doesn't need the Brimhats per se, but at the same time I also don't at all agree that the Brimhats are (or have been portrayed as) "wrong" and them showing up would in no way make it "right vs wrong". What makes the conflict interesting is that there are very strong arguments on both sides. In fact we're seeing much of the same thing playing out IRL with advanced technology, medical or otherwise. Almost everything we develop is multiple use. The same genetic tech that allows us to so rapidly develop new vaccines, start to cure genetic illnesses, better heal injuries and so on could be used for bioweapons. Nuclear fission technology provides not just power but crucial isotopes used for medicine, while of course simultaneously enabling world devastating arsenals. The computers we use to talk to each other, collaborate globally, work and play, also provide avenues for mass manipulation and organization of evil. Etc etc. And the trend only looks to accelerate.
Ideally we'd find the right middle path, but if we ever had an actual nuclear war or grey goo scenario or something (and didn't all die) I can easily see an extreme counter reaction against advanced tech. Yet at the same time advanced tech has made lives better for billions, has in fact
enabled "billions" to even exist in the first place (industrialization, synthetic nitrogen fixation, green revolution, understanding of disease). And the methods to create and enforce such a scenario would itself raise huge ethical issues, here for example they used magic for unilateral mass mind wiping and manipulation.
No easy answers for sure.