Is progress real?

[Parallel Pain]

Progress is real all right.

Basically there's three view of world history and trends

Cyclical: everything repeats and repeats. This is the sort-of Confucian theory of dynastic cycle

Unchanging: it never changes. This is the sort-of middle-ages concept that they exist in a time between the first coming of Christ and the Second and nothing else matters.

Linear: This is the sort-of "modern" concept in which everything changes and build on previous changes (now precieved to often be for the better).

All three are true in their own rights. History is changing and unchanging and cyclical and not. It's just which aspect of history a culture chooses to emphasize. Modern culture (itself a human construct in relatively recent times) choose to emphasize Linear aspect.

This does not mean there is no "progress" or one direction change taking place in the cultures with the other two views, but that they simply regard it as another piece in their puzzle, as modern culture regards the other two views the same way.

As for whether or not progress is a good thing, it is perfectly debatable. Good for what, to who/what, in what time frame and in what way.

To me progress is good because I know
- the life expectancy of my fellow countrymen is over 70 years as opposed to 25~35
- if I every have children the chance of they dying before age 7 due to disease is miniscule (as opposed to over 50%)
- famine and a sudden new disease would not combine to wipe out half the population
- that unemployment even in a recession wouldn't sky rocket to the point of causing a revolution (at least in my country) but is actually quite low (relatively speaking)
- No one, not even the leader of my country, can take away my belongings by force or extort me into giving away my property
- There are government and other institutions designed to help me survive and live a normal life no matter what my condition is
- That in my country there is a great deal of social mobility. My parents don't have to be an aristocrat and I don't have to go onto the battlefield and fight with distinction to obtain power if I shall ever wish to do so (and I'm not interested)
- That the government controls minimum wage and price of necessities strictly so that even at minimum wage a full time worker do not have to spend every single penny just to get by (unless spent unwisely).
- That I do not have to be extremely powerful or rich or trying to spread religion to travel to other places in the world, and I can do so for leisure purposes.
- That before the law all my countrymen are (in theory) equal. If I am convicted the same crime as my dying father, the general-in-chief, or the Queen I could be expected to recieve similar sentences instead of they paying a $1000 fine and me getting executed.

And lots more.