I think "99% lies" is an overstatement, but I take your point. Though, maybe you are thinking more about writing than moveable type? There was a world of scribes and clay tablets and papyrus and parchment lasting about 3 or 4 millennia between oral traditions and mass-produced reading materials. Essential question still valid to ask, either way.

Back when I was growing up in the 1950s-60s, humanity was still trying to make sense of nuclear weapons, and it was an open question whether human intelligence and hands with opposable thumbs would, in the fullness of time, turn out to be successful evolutionary adaptations, or lead to extinction. Still no answer, 2 weeks shy of 80 years since Trinity and 72.6 years since Ivy Mike.

The libertarian/anarchist author James C. Scott published a book in 2017, "Against the Grain," where he marshals considerable evidence that the invention and diffusion of agriculture has on the whole been a serious mistake if human health and well-being is the criterion. I do not know the answer, but the thinking is interesting.

So, yeah, inventions that confer immediate advantage may, or may not, be net benefits in the very long run.

But, I am wondering, even if we believe the Gutenberg Revolution a good thing, is it now reaching its end, and a new world is dawning.