What is progress, really?

What is progress?

Progress as in the progress bar: 1) You are good when it moves

forward 2) Things suck when it stops 3) It never moves backwards

>> Progress is something that when we got it, we don’t have to give it away

Progress as in the mushrooms of Mario Bros: 1) You find a mushroom and progress

to become a bigger Mario 2) You might become small again in

some catastrophic event

This is not real progress.

Progress:

Universal suffrage?

Gay rights?

Freedom to roam?

Progress:

Social development is reversible by political decisions. Sometimes this is even beneficial to political actors.

Progress as the mushrooms are progress (unfortunately):

Universal suffrage

Gay rights

Freedom to roam

Progress:

Bicycle?

The Internet?

Bicycles will be here even after a very severe collapse of the societies:

Progress as the progress is in the progress bar!

Progress:

Bicycle?

The Internet?

Internet works when there is participation and electricity.

If participation is banned or there is no electricity, there is no internet.

Internet is currently in the “progress as in the mushrooms” mode.

In the world after the sensor revolution (IoT etc) ambient sensors can harvest their own energy.

What if we use these energy harvesting sensors as an alternative internet backbone?

Resilient, energy-independent and anonymous “smart dust” internet would be progress as in the progress bar.