@hexmasteen @edric @pluralistic
I don't think there has been much 'progress' at all in the 'western world' over the last 40 years.
My grandfather lived from a time you never saw a car or an aeroplane - indeed a world in which there were no aeroplanes - to see men walk on the moon. In Europe, at least, the big advances - pretty universal utility connections, radio and television, public health and care services, understanding disease transmission - you know, all the things that really make people safe and happy - were made in my grandfather's lifetime.
My life, by comparison, has seen relatively little 'progress'. Different screens in people's homes, some medical advances - but nothing on the scale of public water supply or sewer installation, or state healthcare, to really impact the health of millions; indeed, I have even lived to see the start of decline in life expectancy, and return of diseases we thought had gone.
The only big area of progress I see now is green technology - mainly imported from China.
@GeofCox
Indeed, the last 40 years has all been about the perfection of the business model. Segmented market pricing, planned obsolescence, offshoring and plastics, and in online industries unrelenting shift to the subscription model.
You may have purhased something, a computer, a car, but you certainly can’t control how features work, or independently repair it.
And unrelenting marketing claiming “new and improved”
Edric
Hex
GeofCox
Rhyme Repartee