He points out that the idyllic pastoral Shire- England- is a nostalgic fiction. While there were aristocrats and landowners who lived fairly comfortable lives, the vast majority of people had much harder, poorer, and more laborious existances: "Those who inherit the traditions of a ruling class (as Tolkien did) are too aware of the past pleasantness of life, and too unaware of the nightmare that filled it just beyond the borders of the manor house." Asimov makes the salient point that, whatever problems and ills have been caused by industrialization, it has also been a force for good in many respects. Industrialization resulted in in an upsurge in leisure time for millions and a corresponding dramatic rise in literacy. It resulted in the working class having disposable income and better opportunities in education and employment. In addition, the industrial age has seen may diseases and conditions which used to kill large segments of the population prevented or cured, and seen the average life expectancy almost double. If we can't give up our One Ring, there's good reason for it. If the ring is leading us to destruction, Asimov says, it's because we are greedy and foolish. He is hopeful, however, that we can learn to use its power wisely: "No, the One Ring is not wholly Evil. It is what we make it, and we must rescue and extend those parts of it that are good."
If the One Ring is technology, I would say the lure and danger of it now is not what it is doing to the environment, but what it is doing to the individual. More and more people seem to be eschewing personal relationships for online ones. Instead of taking pride in personal accomplishments, many now seem only to get gratification or feel a sense of worth by garnering a large online following, people they don't- and won't- ever know personally. Unrestrained and desperate for attention, they say and do outrageous and debasing things for "clicks". Because of the impersonal nature of these online connections, many feel free to viciously attack the characters of those they don't like, seeking to destroy them, free of the consequences that saying such vile things face to face would bring. None of this can possibly be healthy, but it's too late to close Pandora's Box. In a way, we have become slaves to our devices (some more than others) and we can no easier rid ourselves of them than Frodo could bring himself to destroy the ring. And we've granted the purveyors of our technological "rings" an amount of power over our lives that Sauron would envy.