I don't know, if this has been suggested before, but how about adding an info (a number) about how a certain tech (and its buildings concerned) will influence the overall culture of a town?
Lets take for example the choice between herbalism and secrecy. How about if you added the info that herbalism will affect culture in a certain way or not and secrecy will do that in another way or not - don't want to spoil here, that's why I don't tell which does which ;) . Maybe you could even add a number like: losing culture - 1, 2, 3, gaining culture + 1, 2, 3 (or a 0 if it doesn't affect culture at all) when using a certain tech and creating the building(s) that come with it.
That way players could make a decision based on facts and not on guessing.