The thing is, you have to have these lofty things existing alongside the gritty practicalities and needs of daily life - human beings of all backgrounds want to try to do more, generally speaking. That's how we grow both in intelligence and morals. With all our resources, there's no physically limiting reason we couldn't figure out our base problems and make sure each person has good food to eat AND research cures AND go out in space. Like you say, it's a problem of allocation. (Although cures are limited by the ability of minds to figure it out ... something advanced science is for.)