pinnacle of civilization

I was thinking about that famous fallacy recently, that perspective makes us think we are in the "modern era" when in fact (in some sort of way) we are members of a deep past. I'm sure the citizens of ancient Rome or ancient Yamato thought that they were the newest generation, and yet we can barely remember them now. It is thoughts like these that make me wonder why many of us think that we are currently near the pinnacle of civilization.

Many of us still sit above bowls of water to extract external food waste, after which we rub processed tree flesh on our rears. Is this the pinnacle of civilization??

Many of us are often still scared of other ones of us based on skin pigmentation or mating rituals. Many of us think others are somehow naturally unequal to us, for simple delusional differences. Is this the pinnacle of civilization??

Many of us still don't realize that many of us, is the One of us. The One of us, in a deep endlessly vast impossibly chaotic universe. We are but one minute dust mote floating through a brief fraction of infinite time. Is this the pinnacle of civilization??