I'm not sure any sane person would claim that human beings are making any kind of cognitive progress. Most people are content to remain intellectually indolent, which is why mindless entertainments for the masses are so profitable. Musk & Zuckerberg are merely feeding their egos thanks to the seemingly insatiable appetite of ordinary people (and the journalists who prey on them) for empty sensationalism. Lots of sound and faux fury, signifying absolutely nothing whatsoever.