The Mystery of Progress and Why We’re Chasing after an Impression
An anthropological inflection point
If we let our phones fall to the ground, would we see the woodland for the trees? Would we recognize this detailed web that we’re each a component of? Would certainly we see where it is that we’ve wandered? How much we’ve come?
One of the strangest attributes of time is that it never stops. “The world spins madly on,” as The Weepies once said. Because it never stops, though, it can be tough to have real perspective. We’re mired enough in our daily lives that the thuds of an inexpressible future battering at our doorstep are conveniently missed out on underneath the oddities and ins and outs installed within each passing minute.
Sometimes the power of a story depends upon its information. They can take a breath life and veracity right into one of the most shocking fictions. But when also the truths we’re enduring are outrageous, it’s exactly those details that we turn toward: the sun on our skin, the hug of a loved one, the exchange of a meme, or the scent of popcorn. They maintain us from penetrating existential despair.
The problems we’re facing are unprecedented. To face such a constant overflow of requiring dangers each time we check out the limitless information devices in our …