Pause Button,
  As long as we permit the current status quo in terms of how we organize, structure, and regulate society to persist, I would agree with your estimation that "boat sailed a long time ago and it's not coming back."  That being said, I believe that we are only truly slaves to market/technological forces so long as we allow ourselves to be.  We have tooled society today to serve the interest of businesses operating under competitive market forces, so it is no wonder that the needs of humans are of little concern. If we retool society to actually serve the interests of people, we'll soon find those human concerns far easier to address. The market and technology must be bent to serve our needs, not the other way around, and certainly not to serve the needs of the few over the many.