As usual, the past remains far more instructive than anything current or a pipe-dreamishly-technology-as-the-be-all-end-all future. From the opening of Charles Dickens’ most dramatic, timeless novel, A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.