Progress is…

Spectrum: An Ordered Array of Components

So far, the idea of progress has been themed by sequence. As in, get this first and then get that. Development, says the old school, proceeds along the paths of clarity, mistake, luck, or karma. Or to put it another way, as a species, we are safer and safer as we move along the roadway of progress. Each mile, dollar, hypothesis, discovery that ticks by is another step forward for our species. Perhaps that model of progress has reached the end of its useful life and is due modification.

Maybe we are not on an eternal interstate of growth, but rather a less linear system: That at some point–if we continue motoring along the linear path of progress-is-more–we fall off the edge. Or more to the point, perhaps our maturation as a species requires that we exit the freeway and take a different mode of expansion before reentering the passageway.

Or possibly progress isn’t a path at all but a spectrum. Rather than understanding the bands, we skip along gathering the glittery repetitive parts and call that progress. Sometimes “more” is not conducive to the growth of our species–and can even be toxic. There are examples of this in the natural world. We do fine swimming in a liquid with a Ph 7 and we do poorly swimming in a Ph 2 – a highly acidic liquid. In this example, too much acid is toxic to us.

Back to the point; consider that progress is a spectrum of choices and that we are about to unbalance one of them, business, leaving us with a null set of options. Pushing in any one-direction can pull us outside the healthy range for our species. This logic says that rather than progression, the key to a healthy human society is balance. A balance gained by recognizing the limits of the spectrum and finding our balance inside that scale. The advantage of this viewpoint is that once we find balance, we can seek out the spectral edges. Some distinctions have already been labeled. For example: fire, ethics, ego, emission, extinction. Spectrums support us; they are our foundations. It makes no sense to bust it all by mistaking one facet as the entire structure. To avoid that, we must step back and redefine “progress.”

So here we are…

There is a difference between exploring spectral prominence and exploiting it, or experimenting on it. The difference is respect for that spectral edge and the mysteries of this universe that dwarf us. Once we see the limits and develop choices, we can continue to exploit those parts of our ecosystem that are renewable, resilient, and productive.

Expanding our options from a linear view of progress to a view of progress as a spectral foundation is the key for us now. Rather than seeing progress as a two-dimensional drag race requiring bigger economic engines, we could accept that depth exists and without understanding that depth, we risk crashing trying to acquire shiny stones. For quite a while, we believed science could provide all the tools for expansion, for progress, for growth. Now we find science saying there are limits to growth and those limits must be heeded. Is it any wonder the honeymoon between science and business has ended?

So there is the operational problem we face. There’s more out there–too much–and gluttony has a cost.

Rather than rationally evaluating the limits of our spectrum, leadership says we are on a thoroughfare that must be conquered. Environmentalists say it is not a path but a web that can be torn by pushing too hard. Science has weighed in saying that if limits are ignored for economic exploitation, our present attempt at civilization may be doomed. Entrenched interests answer that science’s child, technology, will solve the problems of limits. Anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance will end the argument.

It is a fact we do not currently have the technological tools to modify the continuum we call reality. So the sooner we adjust to the limits of the spectrum, rather than pushing along the mythological path of progress that leads off the spectral cliff currently called the tipping point, the better. The fall will be quite uncomfortable. Or, baring the magic of wisdom, when we encounter the edge and the tipping point occurs setting us back, could we try not to make the same mistake again, please?