4 Nephi 1
With all the unity among the people that was had during this extended period of universal righteousness, I wonder how technologically, scientifically, and culturally advanced they became. The chances that they did not advance in all those ways are very small considering how enlightened they would be with the spirit so pervasive among the people. The trick is that with the type of wickedness that followed all the advances were generally lost. A few may have remained but they are the ones that would not appear advanced to those who saw them later among the people. (No, I am not thinking they had electronics of any kind.)
I believe the reason that Fourth Nephi is so abbreviated is not because the records were sparse but because Mormon knew that we did not need that information. It would just be noise cluttering the message of the book which is the struggle to build righteousness and the central influence of Christ in doing so successfully. When a righteous society was operating the record always reverts to essentially marking time to show how long (or short most of the time) it lasted.
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