Thought for the New Year: The Myth of Progress

On this first day of a new year, a day of hope and new horizons, a day of reflection on the year past and the setting of new sights for the year to come, I believe it a good opportunity to reflect on one of the fundamental myths which form the foundation of our culture. The Myth of Progress, the idea that the human race is continually moving in a positive direction, is the unfounded assumption which fuels our science, technology, and economy and is the basis for much of the way we view the world and act.

As far as I am aware, the Myth of Progress finds its first explicit expression in the philosophy of Hegel. The Myth of Progress paints a picture of the human race moving in a continually positive direction with respect to morality, knowledge, wisdom, prosperity, and the general fulfillment of what it means to be human. To accept this myth uncritically can have catastrophic repercussions both personally and globally.

It can be said that the small percentage of the world's population that lives in the West has increased their material prosperity over the last several centuries, but at what cost? How many countless human beings have been destroyed to benefit the prosperity of the West, not even to mention the negative impact on the environment? Does air-conditioned television-viewing offset the suffering of countless slaves which gave the West such an economic advantage for so long? Has any progress really taken place?

Science and technology, the engine and harbinger of all things progress, is accepted by nearly everyone with no criticism whatsoever. Jacques Ellul, the famous critic of technology, emphasizes the fact that technological progress is ambivalent in nature. There is great depth and manifold implications to the notion that technological progress is ambivalent, but one simple example is that the same technology which increases our prosperity can also be used to destroy us. Technological progress carries us along while no progress is made in humanity's moral compass.

The heart of humanity is never changing, but our designs are increasingly complex and our power is always on the rise. What does it actually mean to progress? The idea of progress that is widely presented is no progress at all.

"The trouble about progress is that it always looks much greater than it really is." -Nestroy

"It isn't absurd, e.g., to believe that the age of science and technology is the beginning of the end for humanity; that the idea of great progress is a delusion, along with the idea that the truth will ultimately be known; that there is nothing good or desirable about scientific knowledge and that mankind, in seeking it, is falling into a trap. It is by no means obvious that this is not how things are." -Wittgenstein