Progress

I had an unsettling feeling after completing the last post. I was dissatisfied. I was dissatisfied even whilst reading through the draft edition, but posted it for the sake of progress. While the incompleteness of the post likely added to the feeling of dissatisfaction, it was something more to do with the content that I felt uneasy about. I'm still not sure what. Perhaps I didn't express myself as I normally like to, or perhaps it wasn't entirely honest. Maybe I just didn't completely understand what I wrote in my own mind.

However, progress is still progress. People and their work are judged, amendments may be required and the necessary changes implemented.

I want to apply this to a broader picture now. First, the background inspiration for this post: this evening whilst in a supermarket checkout, I noticed an overweight (I'd say approaching obese) girl, probably younger than ten. I attempted to inconspicuously watch the items they were putting through the checkout, and noticed a few tins of something (not really important) and a large bottle of coke. As I had no knowledge of their motive for shopping, it would be unfair of me to judge the lack of any type of fresh food (eg. fruits and vegetables). However, this one lot of purchases by two people I had seen only this one time could stand as a decent reflection of their typical lifestyle (it might not, there may have easily been unknown circumstances such as medical conditions or whatever event - but this is the conclusion I drew from looking at the girl).

To apply this to the focus of this post: how progressive has 'progress' proven to be up to the present time? Progress, by definition, is positive development. The past years have seen massive amounts of progress in medicine and technology, but how equally balanced are the positives with the negatives that arise from fraudulent application of these breakthroughs? (for example, businesses that employ different technologies in more economically efficient ways) A big progression in technology has been in food production, with farming systems 'progressing' to the extent where animal welfare may be compromised for the sake of a greater profit margin.

In simple terms, people have gone from growing fruits and vegetables and keeping cows in their paddocks' to (years later) purchasing goods from supermarkets which have (often unknown) preservatives, added hormones and other things of a potentially harmful nature. As food production and preservation and medicine progresses, so do potential threats to human and (other) animal health. So, how do we measure progression?