The Progress Trap of Our Generation
We've outpaced human evolution, in the age of automation, and technology has become a human solution to the human problem.
THE GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION REDEFINED PROGRESS
In the late 1800s, post-civil war, the invention of the steam engine unified the country to fuel an industrial revolution. Wages were high and energy was cheap, which meant it was economically efficient for manufacturers to produce at low costs. The substitution of capital-labor and coal to invent technology —- has evolved to the modern term ‘innovation’.
Innovation coupled with exchange networks cultivated the trade of customs, ideas, technology, and goods but this new complexity uncovered unintended consequences. The invention of the steam engine fueled a positive feedback loop. Railroads needed steel and steel needed railroads, which catalyzed the rate of innovation, leading to the first industrial revolution.
At this turning point, progress transformed into material progress, the development of appliances, cars, and infrastructure created a feedback loop for innovation.
So in turn innovation doesn’t just push forward it looks back. You think a better iteration will make Li it work but really it’s just the idea. You have to shift your perspective to get the most out of it.
TECHNOLOGY HAS OUTPACED HUMAN EVOLUTION
In the 21st century, we are operating on a 200,000-year-old system attempting to build the next technological solution without a clear sense of reality. Instant communication, abundant energy, vast discovery of new materials, and a staggering number of new machines have drawn our species deeper and deeper into the paradigm of a self-fulling prophecy; we declare tech is the future, so we build it.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend discussing progress traps. And his reply was, “What do you expect us to do? Not build technology”, which is my exact point. We haven’t even thought about a world without technology, so we build more in hopes it will satisfy the last insecurity better than the first.
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when you created them.
— Albert Einstein
Let’s face it, we are insecure about the future and technology has become a human solution to the human problem.
Our need for more technology is a security paradigm inscribed in our human desire for survival, serving the ever-growing need for innovation, which is more psychological than we give it credit.
We are about due for another human revolution, or should I say evolution..
The over-dependency on energy and the accelerated rate of change aren’t sustainably known to mankind. By default, we’ve created the insecurity of our demise staggering us into a green energy arms race.
We need to acknowledge the real fear of the unknown before we can save the world, serve justice and make real progress.
TAKE CARE OF THE EARTH — NO TIME LIKE TODAY
In 2021, the world is rethinking how to buy, what to do, where to work allowing the opportunity to intercept the nations’ habit loop to rethink progress as we know it.
Begin with the end in mind.
— Stephan Covey
We built our world on what we knew rather than who we are. Therefore, progress has not moved forward, it's looked back. The industrial revolution didn’t just fuel innovation but also systems of incongruency with the earth. We are living in the present time on the insecurity of the past.
We need to get in balance with the earth, with human ingenuity. Principles of harmony, love, balance that align with nature. This is our opportunity to dismantle industrialized frameworks and reshape expectations for the future.
The planet earth is the only thing we know for sure. If we really want to save the earth we must care for it. The earth has been around for thousands of years and will prove to be in the future.
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