No one can deny the brilliance of our technology. The problem is rather what our technology is used for. We display astounding brilliance in devising means for any end we desire, but we have no rational way of choosing what ends are worth desiring. No wonder that western literature is full of skepticism, nihilism, and despair. Life has no point.
Nothing is sacred.
Reverence is an unworthy relic of past times. Everything is a potential target for mockery. There are no honored models to shape behavior. And if there is no answer, they assert the reality of the self by mindless violence, or else submerge the self with drugs. With Michael Polanyi we find that there are more fundamental causes which brought the crisis of western civilization behind these social issues.