This is all completely spot on. As someone who has quit smoking (after picking it up again several years ago) and quit drinking soda this year, I completely agree.

I actually have a theory on exactly what happened that caused all of this. Our economy shifted with the invention of the computer. They broke the concept of money and it had a large number of cascading effects.

Specifically, it caused the need for secrets as a route to profits. Previously, data was shared with humanity as a way to advance us. Now, data is hidden in order to advance profits. I wrote about it in a bit more detail here if you are interested:

https://medium.com/the-innovation/its-time-to-give-the-invisible-hand-of-the-market-a-high-five-51a3360de42a

I think if we can fix the economy, the other problems will start to fix themselves as a result. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.