Is progress an illusion ?

Progress: the meaning of the word is simple: â€œdevelopment towards an improved or more advanced condition.”

However, if we were to examine the application and use of this word, we would find a world of fault. The truth is progress could very well be an illusion, an avoidance of bitter truth that in our world and society what we often call "progress" can often lead us down a road to a much less progressive future.

It’s a controversial thought but does progress truly exist ? Or is what we call progress the creation of a problem we are yet to understand or discover ?

We have a habit as the human race of believing that progress is always good, always an improvement and that may be true in terms of convenience. After all we live and are by-products of the convenience age, however as progress evolves and innovates, we often find that which was once progressive now by virtue of progress rendered unprogressive and backwards.

Let’s delve into an example, a timeline and illustration of what was once progress and how it has now become the opposite.

Plastic the saviour of elephants......

A synthetic polymer created in 1869 as a part of a competition to create a substitute for diminishing supplies of ivory. In the 19th century plastic was praised as the saviour of tortoises and elephants this resulted in larger demand being met than the natural resource would allow. Present day our ocean life is endangered and plagued by that very Synthetic polymer which was once hailed as a saviour. A once progressive and beyond brilliant innovation broadening the consumer experience and saving species is now endangering our world and our animal kingdom. Plastic is and remains one of the world's biggest and problematic concerns of our age.

In conclusion

" the world seems to have a habit of going full circle.... it seems that progress is just the optimal circumference as we rotate back. "

When you think of progress remember that progress could very well be a precursor to an unprogressive tomorrow. It is a circular dance that we slowly and dutifully tap our feet to as we waltz onwards to an unprogressive new.

One step forward can equal 100 steps back, innovation can lead to advances in convenience but can also have dire unforeseen consequences. Every time we move forward, we add to that ever-ending list of complications and more variables are introduced into the mix, leading to true progress becoming an illusion.

As we conclude, I ask you to consider this is progress an illusion ?