I will argue that we are going forward - for better or for worse. In my humble opinion, taking into account the sad state of the world today, any change is welcomed.
You're saying the world is in a sad state today, but there never was a time more prosperous than today on a global stage. Almost everything reeks of prosperity
If there's anything to blame, it's the various cultural revolutions, but even them are byproducts of the theater produced by the 8.3 BILLION (United States: 348,920,101; https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/world-popu...) people currently inhabiting the planet
The problem is that we are pushed forward, not going at our own pace.
In his commencement speech that got booed by the audience, Eric Schmidt says, "When someone offers you a seat on the rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on. [...] Find a way to say yes."
That's the billionaire class telling you where your place is in their plan for the world. Nobody asks if you even want to leave the planet, figuratively speaking.
The last sentence in particular shows the contempt he has for the students in the audience, and is reminiscent of another (alleged) incident:
Also, don't forget what he said about "arrogant programmers". His plan is to make the (in his view inferior) human workers redundant, and I do not see why anyone who still has some idealism in them and is just about to enter the work force would applaud him for his tone-deaf speech: