Has there ever been a case in human history when technology just stopped advancing, simultaneously world wide, only because a bunch of people wanted it to?

I think these people are either incredibly naive, or, more likely, not acting in good faith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilomar_Conference_on_Recombi...

> The effects of these guidelines are still being felt through the biotechnology industry and the participation of the general public in scientific discourse. Due to potential safety hazards, scientists worldwide had halted experiments using recombinant DNA technology, which entailed combining DNAs from different organisms. After the establishment of the guidelines during the conference, scientists continued with their research, which increased fundamental knowledge about biology and the public's interest in biomedical research.

DNA splicing, human cloning, super-sonic passenger flight, human gene editing (CRISPR), nuclear energy, biological weapons, and probably more.