Same. Im at the point fortunately where by pocketbook can still stretch farther than my ability to deal with this bullshittery. I will live. But I’m pissed about it. And my heart goes out to those that can’t. I don’t have a solution but I hope we fix it soon.

There would need to be an evolutionary drive to develop that tech. And in a water world there’s little reason to. The main utilization of fire was to cook food. From there other developments occurred. That’s not a thing that hydrothermal vents would be good at or easily utilized. An aquatic species would literally be inside the oven they cook with, and for little reason. Sushi is a thing we eat now. You also can’t smelt metals underwater. So passing the threshold of utilizing basic tools is basically impossible.