What's missing from this faith in mythologies is the recognition that the conventional solutions must comply with implicit rules that limit their efficacy. Any "solution" must not disrupt the status quo's power structure, which has been over-optimized to the point of extreme fragility, a dynamic I discussed in Six Dynamics That Will Shape Our Future.
In other words, any "solution" must leave existing profit streams untouched and the power pyramid as-is. Given this constraint, and the fragility created by over-optimization, the only "solutions" that are acceptable to those at the top of the pyramid are play-acting "solutions", proposals presented as magical fixes that actually fix nothing, or create new problems--the definition of Anti-Progress.
To state this out loud is deeply offensive, for we've been trained to worship at the altars of technology, the market and the state. It's considered good sport to deride the limits of state solutions, but it's anathema to question the limits of technology or the market.
Markets only "solve problems" via infinite substitution of scarcities. OK, so we wiped out wild fisheries, the fix is fish farms. We bulldozed the native forests, the solution is tree farms. That each substitution isn't actually a functional substitute, and is a much lower quality that the original, is taboo.
Yes, we are definitely constricted by the conventions of our matrix. We cannot change anything that would be to our benefit if it were to damage our betters and their wealth collection mechanisms. We are stuck with the oligarchs until we decide we are not stuck with THEM, especially if THEY are not doing anything to our benefit only to our detriment. If we start working outside of the matrix we may be able to free our minds and ourselves.