@TomTomBinks,
I generally agree with you, but this doesn't mean that all change has been for the good or that civilization is not on the precipice of the abyss.
It's possible that the continued progress of mankind is similar to a ball thrown very high into the air. Without a force to continue to extend's it's climb it will fall to earth. At some point the force lifting the ball and the force of gravity equalize and for a second you would be hard pressed to decide whether the ball was going up or coming down.
Think of people taking the marvels of humanity for granted as gravity.
For civilization that moment in time may span decades or centuries.
It also won't take an entire breakdown of societies throughout the world to end human civilization.
We can continue to make progress against diseases that have plagued us for thousands of years, but the day after a foolproof cure for cancer is announced, an antibiotic resistance plague may start in some corner of the world, a virulent virus may escape a lab or be released by terrorists.
I don't buy into Revelations and the End of Days as a second coming of Christ or anything along that religious line, but we could easily be hovering over the abyss.