An Illusory Future
The year is 20**.
Our computers do most of our work for us.
Our genes are subject to preference.
Our stories are as they “should be”.
Hidden within smart cities, people whisper a single word, “progress”, over and over again, like a verbal offering to some distant, indifferent god.
Centuries before, in Parisian salons, Enlightenment thinkers envisioned an age where reason and science triumphed to create an unstoppable force of universal progress.
We became men and women of industry. Of capital. Of colony. We sought to conjure up a narrative where value was attributed to an ambition-fueled ascent.
We saw setbacks in the fall of empires or the participation in world wars, but maintained the idea that we will continue to chart a course forward, using Prometheus’ gift as a stimulant for informed action.
However, it is possible to drown in a sea of progress, unable to understand which way is up.
The Cost of Progress
Progress can be seen as an advancement towards a particular state or goal. Advancement usually takes shape as linear or cyclical.
Linear Exchange
First we were barbaric nomads, moving in pursuit of resources, and now we are civilized beings innovating towards a multi-planetary future.
But, as we seek a specific goal we miss an exchange of values. To view progress through a linear lens we must accept one thing: growth requires sacrifice.
For instance:
Comfort sacrifices strength.
Communal equality sacrifices individual excellence.
Globalization sacrifices local culture.
We exchange one value for another and call it progress.
There are advantages to narrowing the field of vision. But, when you pray to the Goddess of Progress while ignoring the need for ritual sacrifice, will your prayers really be answered?
What did we sacrifice for the advancement of industry?
What did we sacrifice for technological savvy?
Our determination of progress from a linear standpoint is dependent on the weight we give certain values. More of this and less of that. We align those values somewhere between certain extremes.
This begs the question: is it really progress or preference?
Cyclical Byproducts
We attempt to understand our world through the utilization of cycles.
"History repeats itself," we say.
Civilizations rise, fall, and give birth to new ones. Our bodies form, decay and become fodder for some other form of matter. The laws of nature are always apparent. Where something grows, something has died.
But, the problem with cyclical progress lies in a cycle's byproducts. Unintended outcomes disrupt our understanding of the rhythm of the world.
The Enlightenment, expected to revive classical reason after medieval stagnation, spawned rationalist and nationalist revolutions, new cycles of upheaval that reshaped our world. While larger cyclical models account for this like Oswald Spengler's seasonal model placing the Enlightenment in the "Winter" phase, marking a civilization's decline, we're forced to broaden our scope and add a layer of complexity.
This makes it harder to engage with resulting revelations.
Grandeur's Blade
Like Icarus, who crafted wings of wax only to fly too close to the sun, we too chase grand notions of progress and watch helplessly as our wings melt from the entropy of unchecked complexity.
As we climb higher and higher we're met with existential dread or tribal reduction.
Existential Dread
On one hand we wonder if no matter what we do with our finite time on this planet we cannot sway the larger patterns at play?
The overwhelming pressure of the unknown is made palatable by the awareness of scale.
The blade of grandeur, laced with the toxin of absurdity, cuts deep into the human spirit, leaving it with a sensation of spiritual rot.
This rot leaves us disfigured and ugly. We retreat to states of pleasure and fear. We craft narratives that reject ideas of truth and beauty, for truth means understanding and beauty represents an ideal.
Tribal Reduction
On the other hand, the pressure of advancement forces us to become small in character. You vs. Me. Us vs. Them. The hurdle is so large and we feel we're running out of time, so we become bitter, aggressive, and desperate.
We make complex issues look simple. We address large problems with singular solutions. We do anything to feel a sense of accomplishment, a sense of direction.
We must not let the weight of uncertainty or potentiality break us.
A Quest for Meaningful Change
Humans are determined to discover meaning and create change.
It is an honorable quest, a heroic quest, and it is achievable not by rejecting the idea of progress or reducing it, but by localizing it.
Our quest becomes one of creation by crafting a value system that is continually tested, reinforced, broken down and reestablished through exploration. We sow it into ourselves through experience and the development of personal myth.
A value system that localizes progress allows us to use our new focal point to create a new lens for progress. This lens is one that considers the pitfalls of linear and cyclical progress and the consequences of grandeur. It is a lens we use to determine adherence to a set of values.
We ask, "What can I do that might align with or test my current worldview?"
Recursive Oscillation
I find it helpful to look at history, current events, and my own personal growth through this lens of recursive oscillation. “Recursion” implies a self-referential process, while “oscillation” implies a state of variance between extremes. Instead of history repeating itself, it references itself and events manifest along a spectrum of values. The past and present are filled with unique moments sharing similar motifs.
Here are some examples of recursive oscillation:
The Roman Empire’s fall was a slow fragmentation into feudal kingdoms over centuries, driven by internal decay and invasions, while the Mongol Empire’s collapse was a rapid dissolution into khanates after Genghis Khan’s death, fueled by succession disputes and over-extension. The Romans tried to maintain centralized order while the Mongols emphasized rapid expansion.
The advancement of AI and robotics reignites talks on automation and labor started during the Industrial Revolution. This time around, the needle leans heavily towards automation instead of human involvement, creating different arguments on labor and capital.
Adulthood brings about questions of duty and freedom, where one adult might feel a stronger sense of duty to family or country and another might feel a stronger sense of personal freedom, bringing about two different experiences.
Progress becomes an intermingling of values. We start to see history as a catalog of expeditions, a series of voyages into realms of understanding, some that align with our worldview, some that challenges it, and some that allow us to forge bold new paths. Current events and experiences become signals to us about how we can further enforce our values or change them to get the outcomes we desire.
Progress is a dance, but only those courageous enough to embrace uncertainty, act on their values, and adapt when necessary, hear the melody.
Only heroes dance.
Your concept of recursive oscillation is really interesting in how to frame the varying forces throughout time. It opens a space for rethinking how we engage with history, not as a series of inevitable repetitions or linear milestones, but as a dynamic propulsion of values and consequences.
The conundrum of local vs global impact on humanity is a relevant issue nowadays as sound bites can be heard globally in an instant! As you have always stated, the new knowledge/tools/technologies etc can be global when used wisely to impact opportunity, growth, development and upliftment to all. But to REMAIN HUMAN, local values, culture and traditions are the core to individual and local group happiness. So, global and local can co-exist peacefully if more people are able to personalize their own state of happiness (local) BUT not assume those attributes to be their global stance over others. Awesome food for thought! Let’s DANCE, make progress and REMAIN HUMAN!❤️