For the past few hundred years, our species has been obsessed with chronicling and predicting our own march towards a better but indefinite future.
Archaeologists long made predictions on how civilizations evolve while Linguists studied disparate language families in an effort to determine the first hints of, and next steps of Language. Perhaps most famously, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently observed a type of “natural selection” which explained how all living things evolve over time.
These theories were understood in the context of an underlying narrative that life was inexorably moving from primitive to modern, from simple to complex, from bad to good. It was this narrative that created the idea of “survival of the fittest” (a term coined by Herbert Spencer, who placed cultures on a ladder with least civilized “savages” on the bottom” and “civilized men” at the top). Darwin, though he had his own problematic views of human cultures other than his own, would be the first to point out that that’s not precisely how it works. A certain set of adaptations may be advantageous in one particular environment, and a significant disadvantage in another. Change is not the same as improvement.
But the underlying narrative prevailed. This, they thought, was Progress with a capital P. Progress the noun. This was the idea that life and civilizations either move forward or don’t, wrongly justifying everything from Manifest Destiny to Slavery.
Now, our definition of progress seems equally, though differently, unambiguous. In society’s most widespread pandemic, a viable vaccine would certainly be considered progress. And, facing the ugly truth of systemic racism, so too would fundamental societal reforms and a focus on true equity.
Yet there are more controversial aspects of human progress. Are GMOs a possible solution to world hunger, or are unknown health consequences just around the corner? Will undersea mining unlock new global wealth, or merely pollute the otherwise untouched ocean depths? What will come of increasingly sophisticated Artificial Intelligence?
These questions are difficult to answer because they depend on how we define Progress. For some, the possible downsides of innovation are inevitable side effects, for others they are points of reckoning.
Progress the noun is defined by the culture which creates it. We define goals and methods for reaching this promised future. Ultimately, this means we have power to shape the future of our society.
In our own lives, however, Progress is much harder to define. For some, it is noted in better grades in school, or university attendance. For others it is a job promotion or a higher salary. But when questioned, these steps lead to ambivalent answers.
Why should getting better grades be considered “progress”? To what end? On what scale? Why would an increase in work responsibility for its own sake be inherently better?
We exist on a smaller time scale than society writ large. Rather than aim for Progress the noun, we should be more active. There is no mountaintop of ultimate success upon which we can stand at the end of our lives, there are only small steps in which we can strive for self-actualization. We should strive to progress the verb, moving steadily forward by our own definitions of success. But how do we do that?
Thankfully, we stand on the shoulders of giants. If we look to the theory of evolution as a method by which to progress, we still have a lot to learn from Darwin and Wallace as they analyzed the evolution of life on earth.
The first lesson is that progressing means evolution, not succession.
Darwin’s theory reminds us that evolution is not an inevitable consequence of moving forward through time; it is the result of slow, natural experimentation with a species’ environment that produces genetic advantages. As we imagine developing ourselves in a career or in a life, this means experimenting and adapting ourselves to each situation, either through acquiring new skills or learning new customs, not merely charging forward to the next step.
The second lesson is to try and fail.
Luckily for us, we are not Darwin’s finches. We have the ability to experiment and change what we do given our environments. In order to find the best adaptations (i.e. skills, interests, aptitudes), we must experiment. Sometimes that means failure, but it also means learning. Many branches of our personal evolutionary tree will not work out. You might not be very successful coding in SQL or playing guitar. That’s ok. Those branches that are more promising will give better results in the end.
Third is branch out.
The two ideas above only work if we extend ourselves to the edges of what we believe possible. The edges of our comfort zones are where great discoveries are made about the self and the world. If Darwin, a British 22 year-old set sail aboard the Beagle for a five-year long journey to far-off lands, we can certainly read about and act on topics with which we feel initially uncomfortable.
Finally, Iterate.
When a certain branch or adaptation seems to be working, iterate. Suddenly we may find a particular affinity towards designing in Adobe Illustrator, or fixing electric bicycles. Tweaking that new ability or skill helps find the best version it can be.
Homo Sapiens, after almost 200,000 years of survival against the odds, has been given an opportunity no other species has: actively selecting our destiny. By developing the power of choice and building tools to enact it, we have almost freed ourselves from the guides of natural selection.
This freedom allows us to dream. It has taken us to the moon and the bottom of the sea, it has helped us save countless lives and launched bold technological leaps. Now it requires us to reflect on our idea of Progress for our species and Progress for ourselves.
The industrial revolution helped embed the current paradigm, that step-by-step processes transform raw materials into finished products.
But we are not products, we are people.
A great teacher of mine started every class with a simple meditation: “Take a minute out of your busy lives to remember that you are a human being and not a machine.”
As we question and redefine Progress for our species, we must first start with ourselves.
I have tried to live by these four lessons for the past 6 months. My environment has dictated how I adapt, but I have strived to build positive habits like daily reading and meditation. I have branched out and tried different aspects of digital marketing, deciding that creation and writing are where I perform at my best. Living in my childhood home has forced me outside my comfort zone. I have since started working at the local homeless shelter and took (and passed!) a semester of Financial Accounting.
These may not fit everyone’s definition of success, but to me, it’s progress.