But at what psychological costs?
It has greatly reduced: stability, attention spans, empathy, being satisfied in what you have and probably greatly increased depression and anxiety.
All those are key to the psychology of happiness and personal growth.
And since our material well being is already good, and science and tech would still advance, it does seem that happiness and personal growth are much better indicators for progress.
Tech is never the problem.
You are saying "wow this tree has grown to block my favorite chair from the sun. I am a dumb bitch who doesn't understand how trees work. If only there was sun elsewhere. Let me cut down the tree because I cannot be creative and also I am an idiot."
That is you, in my words. :)
Although HN is social media right? So maybe not
A lot of people talk about progress in this way, but it's really just their own aggression expressed in ideological form
But I do think that progress is an actual thing: just look at what the printing press accomplished, and what the internet is in the process of accomplishing. I think that making more information accessible at a lower cost is the core of progress. Who knows where this will take us, but it's made certain things possible that were not possible before. Life expectancies are also longer than they've been. But this kind of progress isn't a moral imperative like the political kind. It's just something that happens as a result of production