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by derevaunseraun
1457 days ago
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> Every advocate of Progress I've read or spoken to sees it as managing and extracting value from other people - and not establishing a basic stability from which others can be free to actualize and thrive. Even basic income is really about putting the managers of such a scheme at the centre of it, and it's to the point where even the very word 'free' is triggering. I'd argue that belief in Progress is not a benevolent, charitable, or altruistic sentiment. A lot of people talk about progress in this way, but it's really just their own aggression expressed in ideological form But I do think that progress is an actual thing: just look at what the printing press accomplished, and what the internet is in the process of accomplishing. I think that making more information accessible at a lower cost is the core of progress. Who knows where this will take us, but it's made certain things possible that were not possible before. Life expectancies are also longer than they've been. But this kind of progress isn't a moral imperative like the political kind. It's just something that happens as a result of production |
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But at what psychological costs?
It has greatly reduced: stability, attention spans, empathy, being satisfied in what you have and probably greatly increased depression and anxiety.
All those are key to the psychology of happiness and personal growth.
And since our material well being is already good, and science and tech would still advance, it does seem that happiness and personal growth are much better indicators for progress.