Things may look like they were working better in hindsight, but we just hadn't started choking to death on all of the unchecked externalities yet.
Maybe thats the real evolutionary path going on, as we humans grow to have a more temporally aware mindset. That ability to see how past actions effected the future hopefully allows for more predictive capabilities.
I'd say we're currently choking to death on the self actualization that came from living in a safe society where all our needs are met. That remains more pressing than any externalities, which tend to get addressed as they become dangerous.
In the way that the peak of a cocaine binge feels really good in the moment, sure.