Your outlook could be more positive, or your historic eyesight could just be shorter.
I am not of the opinion that our civilization is any better (in the sense of 'goodness') than the Roman civilization. Yet the dark ages came between then and now when all that goodness was lost. It was lost because of the 'yitzar harah' or 'evil inclination' of man. We forget the reasons we want to do good and start to behave in selfish, self-destructive ways. There have been other great civilizations in history before the Roman, yet all have come to the same end. Over time we tend toward the bad without some external influence.
The Roman civilization took over 500 years to fall. Western civilization has been at it for close to that long now. And IMO we are headed in the same direction. Of course, it doesn't look like that from many of the material metrics. But Rome didn't look like it was about to fall either - right up until the "moment" it did.
You are right about the wonderful technology we have today, but we have no ethics to help us deal with it. Do you remember the promise of TV when it was brand new? (I remember when TV was brand new.) How about the promise of electric appliances and the freedom they would bring. What about the utopia of the French Revolution? The Russian Revolution? The Chinese Revolution? All have failed to live up to their potential, and the pace at which new ideas lead to destruction has only increased as our technology has increased. How long did it take for the Great Society to create a permanently poor underclass by destroying the family?
I could go on, but the examples are not important. The concept at the base is important. Choice is a result of human will. Human will is not a random variable. And the human will tends toward destruction.
There is an answer. Technology is not it.
Shalom.
I think the human will tends towards achievement, not destruction. So I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, although perhaps we can at least agree to hope that I'm proven right and you're proven wrong.