Balance of Tradition and Progress

Let's check out the history of human kind.  We evolved from hunters gatherers to modern day internet, smart phones in the palms of our hands and knowledge available to any child.
When do you think we were happier or better off? 
One of my friends is absolutely certain that the hunters gatherers had the best life: roaming the lush forests all day, free in the fresh air, no stress of any kind.  She thought she could convince me of that.  But I am absolutely sure that the knowledge we gathered, our understanding of our world and the inevitability of progress are all pointing out that this life is the best and the only balance that could be achieved between the past and the future.
Let us examine this balance.  First off studies show that the rate of killings in the days of the hunters gatherers was very high relatively speaking.  One had to be extremely vigilant in the forest just to survive day in and day out.  The human population of the world is ever increasing and it would be impossible for us all to live simply today.
I am certain that progress could not be stopped.  We have gone through all these revolutions.  Just to name a few:
The language revolution made homo sapiens communicate and use their collective intelligence to overcome the other humans.
The agricultural revolution made humans stay in homes near their fields. 

The harvesters: Early agriculture in America. 

The print revolution brought the written words to the masses.  Humans everywhere began reading and writing and communication improved.  People started writing novels so human stories were now available for people to read.
The industrial revolution welcomed technology into our lives.  We now know more about the very large the very small stuff:
space, galaxies and planets, atoms and electrons.  Electricity and magnetism.
The science revolution made people realize that we have the capability to understand things beyond our imagination.  Governments and philanthropists started funding research and the march of knowledge is unstoppable.
The internet revolution is the largest most amazing one of all!

Cloud Data:

It is not amazing that we still have wars, power struggles and clash of cultures.  It is the inevitable chaos amidst all the progress.  It is all the in the fine balance. 

There are many predictions about future progress.  The best prediction in my mind is that the future  break through will be in psychology and understanding behaviors.  These understandings will be based on true knowledge of our fight or flight instincts or survival instincts.  True knowledge of evolution of space and planets on a large as scale and our biology on an atomic level.

There will be no justification for a group of people to execute an individual because he believes our planet is round and revolves around the sun.  That individual simply watched the stars with a telescope and knew and understood what he saw.  His knowledge was lost in the balance against those who were fighting for their survival.

I am sure there are many more examples of basic injustices like this.  If we all raise future generations with access to true knowledge there will be no place for such injustice.  

Many groups who try to preserve their traditions are constantly fighting against progress.  Some of these traditions have many positive aspects.  I am certain that respect for the elderly is important, yet in many modern societies youth is revered.  There is a prediction that this reverence for youth will dominate the future of history.  I am very curious to know if this indeed where the balance will end up.