I suppose I would start with philosophy, with questions like....
Progress towards what?
Consider the Amish. Generally speaking, the Amish have to one degree or another opted out of technological progress. And so..
They don’t have nuclear weapons. They aren’t contributing to climate change. They don’t experience all the negative aspects of modern society that we calmly accept as being completely normal.
I’m sure this is an overly simplified view of the Amish, but I think you get the point. The experience of the Amish demonstrates that technological advances, and progress, are not automatically the same thing. In spite of their technological backwardness, the Amish have achieved a form a progress that in some respects is quite superior to our own.
Philosophy is, in part, a study of the assumptions underlying our behavior. If some core assumption is unexamined, and to some degree false, then whatever we build on top of that assumption is likely to be in some way problematic. The most efficient method of proceeding may be to examine our fundamental assumptions very carefully first, before investing vast resources in to some unexamined definition of progress.
Here’s an example. One of our most fundamental assumptions is that life is better than death. Pretty much everyone takes this to be an obvious given. And yet, there is no proof at all that this assumption is true. And so, when we spend trillions on our medical system with the goal of saving lives, we actually don’t have the slightest clue whether we’re doing the patients a favor or not.
I suppose I would start with philosophy, with questions like....
Progress towards what?
Consider the Amish. Generally speaking, the Amish have to one degree or another opted out of technological progress. And so..
They don’t have nuclear weapons. They aren’t contributing to climate change. They don’t experience all the negative aspects of modern society that we calmly accept as being completely normal.
I’m sure this is an overly simplified view of the Amish, but I think you get the point. The experience of the Amish demonstrates that technological advances, and progress, are not automatically the same thing. In spite of their technological backwardness, the Amish have achieved a form a progress that in some respects is quite superior to our own.
Philosophy is, in part, a study of the assumptions underlying our behavior. If some core assumption is unexamined, and to some degree false, then whatever we build on top of that assumption is likely to be in some way problematic. The most efficient method of proceeding may be to examine our fundamental assumptions very carefully first, before investing vast resources in to some unexamined definition of progress.
Here’s an example. One of our most fundamental assumptions is that life is better than death. Pretty much everyone takes this to be an obvious given. And yet, there is no proof at all that this assumption is true. And so, when we spend trillions on our medical system with the goal of saving lives, we actually don’t have the slightest clue whether we’re doing the patients a favor or not.