Absolutely not. The size of a population is somewhat like the amount of parameters for an AI model. The more parameters a model is trained on, the better it is. Likewise, the more people there are, the more brainpower a civilization has to advance faster. That’s the number 1 thing separating massive European cultures and random African tribal-cultures.

Right now, progress is absolutely driven by thinkers and innovators. The more of these people there are, the more progress there is. Even if we wiped out everyone who was not an innovator; there still needs to be people who give goods and perform services for innovators. And if these people are wiped out then the innovators will focus more on providing for themselves and less time innovating.