Perhaps some cultural phenomenon convinces people to start taking washing their hands after the bathroom very seriously, preventing tens of thousands of deaths every year.

It's a stupid example, but no tech would be needed. There's loads of problems in the worlds (wars, disease, famine, etc) that can be massively improved (progress) without any change in tech.

Should we go into how much tech is involved with making soap? Or how much tech is involved with running water facilities? Or how much tech is involved with transitioning from outside toilets to modern toilets? Cultural phenomenons are helping none, without the tech to back it up. In fact, cultural phenomenons not backed by tech are the ones making our society a regressive one.