Chris Jepson: What constitutes progress?

To ask this question is to invite disagreement. If you were asked, say at a dinner party, to give your definition of progress, how would you respond? What easily comes to mind is the increase in the human lifespan. Unquestionably, progress has been made lengthening the lives of many Americans. This was achieved through better sanitation, medical advances and improved nutrition.

Progress could be defined as forward “movement” to a goal. Or, simply, forward movement; a specific objective being somewhat nebulous at times. During the 1928 presidential election, however, the goal became quite specific with a Republican campaign slogan calling for, "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." If Herbert Hoover were elected that would be the result. That is what passed for progress in the 1920s.

There is material progress as suggested by the Hoover campaign slogan. But progress is not limited to material advancements alone. Humanity, at least in the West, can be said to have progressed intellectually. By that I mean the individual human being has been empowered (and valued) to freely think, speak and act for himself.

This took thousands of years and untold deaths. I specifically used “himself” because it has only been in the last 100 years that women were even remotely considered to have such intellectual freedom. Heck, the common (non-land holding) man in America only achieved the universal right to vote in the 1820s. And folks of color, well, we all know how that’s turned out in America. But, progress has been made nonetheless. We are “making” progress as well when it comes to sexual orientation, albeit slowly (although blindingly fast to some).

Intellectual progress has fostered artistic and scientific achievements (architecture, engineering, music, painting, literature, philosophy, dance, etc.) of unbelievable beauty and utility. Intellectual progress has mercifully relieved man of the burden of worshipping the one “true” god. Any religious fear of living, of dying or of a hellish afterlife is more and more considered a vestige of medieval thinking.

The word progress has connotations that we (humanity) are moving in a forward trajectory to a better place. But is that, in actuality, the case?

According to United Nation estimates, the United States population as of Sept. 12, 2016 was pegged at 324,584,042. American population projections for the year 2050 (in 34 years) have the nation closing in on 440 million people.

My question to you and your dinner companions: is this progress? Is more humanity—in and of itself—progress? Is it progress that half a billion people live in the lower 48 states this century? I think not. Because America is geographically larger in size than India, would it be progress for America to grow to over a billion people? If your immediate visceral response is, “Of course not,” what number of inhabitants then is appropriate?

Progress in America is inextricably linked to growth. More people require more homes, more cars, more toaster ovens, more Pampers, etc. More people equals more consumption equals more profits equals more investment equals more growth equals more consumption, ad infinitum.

More humanity is, in actuality, an impediment to human progress.

Of all the discussions not occurring in America today, arguably one of the most egregious is our reluctance to discuss, let alone agree, on what constitutes progress and the undeniable link between population growth, quality of life, sustainability and environmental desecration.

Mother Earth as we know her is dying before our eyes. This is not progress, it is a matricide.