Where do you date that "STEM explosion"? The Scientific Revolution (Newton's time), or more the quantum and atomic age or the computer tech age or what?
There were plenty of wars in the middle ages and the nobles and peasants weren't exactly equal either.
STEM =/= science. The STEM explosion I'm referring to is the big push there's been since I was a teenager to rush high schoolers and young adults into, "hard science" programs in the hope that expanding scientific literacy would result in greater economic prolificity notwithstanding that this correlates with a reduction in funding for the humanities and literature departments. Over time and combined with immigration policy this has led to an oversaturated market for engineers, technologists, and researchers AND decreased public demand for emergent literatures, literary criticism, and philosophy.
There's a reason Jordan Peterson is so famous especially on the, "new right." There's a reason people take medical advice from the JRE program. There's a reason half of Americans believe in angels. It's because we don't have the institutions and incentives require to create something better than Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. That's the best you get with the current set.
Tangentially related; there's a better, "science" lying in waiting:
The number of humanities graduates ballooned and there were no jobs for it. Also, generally the humanities turned in a direction that the wider population doesn't approve of. Just one example is ugly architecture, ugly paintings, unstructured poems, messy novels etc. Deconstruct everything. Ok, that's a nice hobby but scarcely a job. Engineering keeps the lights on. It gives opportunities to anyone who is willing to learn it. A smart working class kid can more easily learn C++ than all the cultural elite signifiers that get you well-paying jobs in things like law. STEM is an equalizer as opposed to fashion-based, taste-based fields. Even during a difficult job market time, you still have better chances with technical and engineering skills than with expertise in literary criticism or some obscure historical period or art form.
JP is firmly coming from academia (got famous with his lecture videos taught at Harvard and U of Toronto), "the institutions created" him. You just disagree with him, but that's not the same. He's not some outsider to academia.
Academia became very dishonest and people noticed. Maybe the replacements are even worse, but the trust will be very hard to gain back. It's very easy to destroy prestige and consensus and takes long to build it up. Of course self-reflection cannot be expected at all. I don't expect it.
There were plenty of wars in the middle ages and the nobles and peasants weren't exactly equal either.