Reevaluating the Definition of Progress
Understanding the Disconnect Between Technological Progress and Real-World Experience
Despite the glorification of technological progress, there's a noticeable disconnect with our real-world experience. Outside the realm of science-fiction fantasies like permanent moon bases and limitless energy from fusion, we discover that everyday life isn't necessarily improving. Instead, it seems to be getting harder, a phenomenon that can be referred to as "Anti-Progress."
The Reality of Anti-Progress
Beneath the allure of science-fiction fantasies, everyday life is increasingly characterized by a rapid descent into Anti-Progress. Take, for example, a raw carrot. In the current system of progress, the most significant feature of a raw carrot is its low profitability. There's little that marketing, branding, or "innovation" can do to convince consumers to pay more for a raw carrot.
The Raw Carrot: A Case Study
Despite its low profitability, a raw carrot is a natural food packed with nutrients and fiber. It's easy to store, transport, and can be consumed raw or cooked. However, its inability to generate significant profits is seen as a flaw in the system of progress. The solution? Process the carrot into a product that can be marketed as an advance in convenience, novelty, status, and engagement.
The Downside of Processed Foods
The nutritional value of processed foods is often negligible, and the health consequences of consuming such foods are negative. Despite this, these products are immensely profitable, and the system celebrates the rising sales and profits. The addictive aspect of these products is especially harmful, as they are designed to hijack the human brain's reward centers, much like a powerful drug.
Consumerism and Addiction
This pattern of addiction isn't limited to processed foods; it describes the entirety of consumerism. The system carefully cultivates addiction as the defining dynamic of progress and everyday life. If consumers complain about deceptively advertised products, they often find that corporate lobbyists have neutered public influence by buying the compliance of regulators.
Pathological Nature of Consumption-Based Progress
The process of increasing profits by hiding negative consequences is not just rational in the system of progress; it's the only path. This reveals the pathological nature of organizing an economy and society around promoting a mythology that equates expanding consumption with progress.
The Consequences of Glorifying Addictive Technologies
Just as the consequences of consuming processed foods are hidden, so too are the consequences of glorifying addictive technologies as progress. Healthy human life is built on relationships between individuals, families, communities, the natural world, and the moral universe. However, our economic system of progress severs these links, viewing them as impediments to expanding consumption and profits.
Revisiting the Definition of Progress
How can increasing rates of diabetes, disability, metabolic disorders, basic healthcare insurance costs, teen depression, and loneliness be considered progress? Clearly, these are examples of Anti-Progress. While returning to the moon and AI apps are touted as "proof" of progress, real-world life is more accurately described as snowballing Anti-Progress.
Bottom Line
We need a new definition of progress and a reset of the mythology guiding our descent into Anti-Progress. This article should provoke thought and encourage a reevaluation of what we consider progress. What are your thoughts on this matter? Feel free to share this article with your friends and engage in a discussion. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is available every day at 6pm.
