All human development involves risk, yes. However, when you depend on future progress in order for survival, I'd argue that passes a risk threshold.
Putting this somewhat more simply, if the Puritans remained stuck at 1600 technology, they could still (conceivably) survive in America indefinitely. If you went to live on Mars at today's technical levels, you personally probably would die on today's technology, but your children (or your pregnant wife!) would almost certainly be non-viable. You need "Future Technology Tree" to be a viable population.
Now, the Polynesian exception. The Navigators were making some absolutely insane voyages[1], but the risk threshold was different for them, because they lived on tiny islands whose ecosystems they burned through at a terrifying pace. I'd argue we're not looking at "Easter Island Planet Earth" today . . although it's not off the menu.
[0] For an airless land made of more poison. That's also radioactive. Mordor got nutin.
[1] "Insane". . so far as we know. No surviving writing, plus an esoteric culture of priest-navigators that jealously guarded knowledge, means we're never quite sure just how much these cultures did know about where they were going. Given genetic evidence that some single generations made cross-pacific trips . . and then came back again . . it's really looking more and more likely that they knew where they were going more than we thought.