First, I wholeheartedly agree that we must remain committed to objective metrics of progress--and we should not downplay progress no matter whose hands it comes on. That said, 1) the world is complex, and progress on some metrics may come with costs. The challenge is when progress for some comes at a cost for others. 2) Implicitly, "progress" is framed here as a monolith. Inequity poses a challenge to this. And in a time of accelerating inequality born of profound inequity, how do we deal with the fact that though the rising tide has certainly lifted the lowest boats, it has left a bigger gap between boats. And those gaps create perceptional inequities that themselves compound the structural and material inequities they've created. 3) Things still suck for a lot of people in the world. And it's all the more astounding when we consider how possible/easy it would be to solve those problems today than it has been in the past given that technical/material hurdles no longer serve an excuse. So it's hard not to fixate on the political and policy choices that are the real hurdle--and hence spend more time focused on what is yet broken than what has been fixed.
Thank you. This is an excellent set of points, and ones which I think are a just right complement to the points I was making in my piece. Yes, there is no question that progress does not happen for all equally and that progress for some is not progress for all. I did not dwell on that much in the piece, just due to space constraints. But fundamentally I agree that progress is not a monolith. The point that things are terrible for many is also indisputable, but it is also probably the case that we can argue that even terrible is not as terrible as it once was; just witness global child mortality. None of this is every either or, it is both. It is possible to say simultaneously the world can--should, has a moral imperative to--get better, and to say that we have made progress over the centuries.
Today May 1st, is Labor Day in many countries. Your excellent piece reminds us to commemorate the infinity number of building blocks that health workers, scientists, journalists, politicians, and social workers, have put in place to make progress!! Let’s remember those that put their own lives in the line and passed working for a better tomorrow!!
First, I wholeheartedly agree that we must remain committed to objective metrics of progress--and we should not downplay progress no matter whose hands it comes on. That said, 1) the world is complex, and progress on some metrics may come with costs. The challenge is when progress for some comes at a cost for others. 2) Implicitly, "progress" is framed here as a monolith. Inequity poses a challenge to this. And in a time of accelerating inequality born of profound inequity, how do we deal with the fact that though the rising tide has certainly lifted the lowest boats, it has left a bigger gap between boats. And those gaps create perceptional inequities that themselves compound the structural and material inequities they've created. 3) Things still suck for a lot of people in the world. And it's all the more astounding when we consider how possible/easy it would be to solve those problems today than it has been in the past given that technical/material hurdles no longer serve an excuse. So it's hard not to fixate on the political and policy choices that are the real hurdle--and hence spend more time focused on what is yet broken than what has been fixed.
Thank you. This is an excellent set of points, and ones which I think are a just right complement to the points I was making in my piece. Yes, there is no question that progress does not happen for all equally and that progress for some is not progress for all. I did not dwell on that much in the piece, just due to space constraints. But fundamentally I agree that progress is not a monolith. The point that things are terrible for many is also indisputable, but it is also probably the case that we can argue that even terrible is not as terrible as it once was; just witness global child mortality. None of this is every either or, it is both. It is possible to say simultaneously the world can--should, has a moral imperative to--get better, and to say that we have made progress over the centuries.
Today May 1st, is Labor Day in many countries. Your excellent piece reminds us to commemorate the infinity number of building blocks that health workers, scientists, journalists, politicians, and social workers, have put in place to make progress!! Let’s remember those that put their own lives in the line and passed working for a better tomorrow!!