Maybe we just need to go full cyborg and not look back! 
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Before writing, culture was transmitted by generations through an oral tradition.
The Ancient Greece we know lived through the transition period to writing, that’s why Plato and Socrates (and many other philosophers) were so adamant in defending the old ways.
All early Greek literature was at some point purely orally transmitted, and it is known that the Illiad and the Odyssey was repeated word by word learned and recited by Greeks.
Singers (aoidoi) who could recite epics were well regarded, and Homer himself was an oral poet.
Memory was so valued that they had a specific goddess for it, Mnemosyne. And she gave birth to the 9 muses:
- Calliope (muse of epic poetry)
- Clio (muse of history)
- Euterpe (muse of music)
- Erato (muse of love/lyric poetry)
- Melpomene (muse of tragedy)
- Polyhymnia (muse of multiple hymns)
- Terpsichore (muse of dancing and choral songs)
- Thalia (muse of comedy)
- Urania (muse of astronomy)
It is interesting how memory is the mother of all the arts.
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It’s not the technology per sa, it’s the reckless callous abandonment of consequence in the pursuit of the technological breakthrough that is the tipping point at which we are either past or very close to not being able to reverse course from.
It’s not the technology per se, it’s the reckless callous abandonment of consequence in the pursuit of shareholder value
Technology is like fire, it is amoral, neither good nor bad. You can create with it and you can destroy with it. What however people tend to forget is, like fire, or electricity, or water, or the earth, you need to respect it and it’s potential power. You need to have foresight for what can be done with it. Let’s use the example of camping in the woods. A couple of well meaning people go and camp in the woods, they even have a lighter with them (a technology) that they use to light a camp fire. And they think they are doing a good job, they clean up their mess, they store their food proper, but they forget that the foliage is a bit dry and to make sure their camp fire is completely out before going to sleep. A single spark blows from their campfire into the surrounding brush and ignites. Soon the entire forest is on fire. Over the next month that forest fire rages and wipes out homes and destroys properties before it is put out all because of a lack of foresight. Technology is much the same. It can be used constructively or destructively. But the difference is often that humans neglect to imagine the possibilities or prepare for them.
It’s not just shareholder value, scientists are driving the innovation and they never seem to ask should we, only can we.