I've noted that the term "Dark Ages", used to describe the period from roughly 500-1000 CE, is not very accurate, and is usually frowned upon. That I can understand, but what were the long term and short term negative impacts of the fall of the western Roman Empire, especially in the terms of human welfare, demographics, scientific innovation, economic growth, and cultural expression?

Did Europe just keep ticking along, or was there, if not darkness, a dimming for a while?