A fairly recurring argument you see in western literature philosophy of the past… oh, I don’t know, 2000 years, is the idea that humans are progressing towards something. Basically, as we exist in this world, we learn more and more and get better and better at what we are doing.

Of course, a lot of non-Western philosopher types argue the opposite. They would say progress is a chimera.

I was thinking a bit about this today. If you look at music, it is hard to argue that we’ve really progressed. Certainly music has changed over time, but I don’t think anyone can really argue that the Beatles are somehow superior to Bach. The same might be said about writing. Is Hemingway superior to the Greek poets? I doubt anyone would seriously make that case.

Of course, those are the arts, and the arts are notoriously subjective. What about science? Clearly we have been making great leaps in our understanding of the world around us — chemistry, biology, physics and even more ethereal “sciences” like psychology etc. But does that count as progress? Is the core human experience vastly improved because we can put a man on the moon or power cars with gasoline? I’m not sure. Certainly I get that things are more comfortable with bug spray than without, but does that really alter our fundamental emotional state? Are we happier because of bug spray? Again, I’m not sure.

What about knowledge for knowledge’s sake? I like quantum physics, but I’m not sure the statement “the world is made up of subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons and quarks” is any more informative than the statement “the world is made up of stuff.”

There’s one area where it would seem that we could without doubt say we’ve advanced: medicine. Our lifespans are increasing and, despite everything you hear about obesity and whatnot, we are basically healthier. We’re less blind, less deaf, less prone to childhood diseases etc.

And I’m a bit torn here. Because I do agree with this point about medicine. Having said that, is living into our 90s really an improvement? Has medicine, in its all-out war with illness and death, changed those entities into something more fearsome than they really should be?

It comes down to this question again: are we living “better” lives than the average man 10,000 years ago? It’s impossible to answer, of course, because we don’t have a resident from that era around to voice his or her opinion. And it’s very hard to look at the total experience of lifetime; usually we’re very aware of how we’re feeling right now, less aware of how we were feeling five years ago.