Re:Do we need a better understanding of 'progress'?
by pdonis on Sunday June 19, 2022 @01:02AM
(#31796300)
> There was a time you could just walk out and pick it off trees.
For some, yes. Others you had to hunt or catch.
> Food didn't change. We did.
If you mean the human population grew to a point where simple hunting and gathering could not support it, and then food changed after that, that's getting things backwards. Our ancestors invented farming, i.e., a new way of producing food, and then the population grew larger than hunting and gathering could support. So food changed first. Then we changed.
> You must always ask:
Progress towards what?
Yes, agreed. Not everyone would consider our ancestors' invention of farming to be progress, for example.
For some, yes. Others you had to hunt or catch.
> Food didn't change. We did.
If you mean the human population grew to a point where simple hunting and gathering could not support it, and then food changed after that, that's getting things backwards. Our ancestors invented farming, i.e., a new way of producing food, and then the population grew larger than hunting and gathering could support. So food changed first. Then we changed.
> You must always ask:
Progress towards what?
Yes, agreed. Not everyone would consider our ancestors' invention of farming to be progress, for example.