Thank you for being.
Ever since I was small, I have heard the like of “You can’t stop progress” or “That’s progress for you” and sometimes this seemed to apply to situations that were NOT obviously better. So- What is this “progress”? What are we supposed to be progressing to? What is this desirable state that we are steamrolling to achieve? Does anyone know? Is this just a word for mindless change?
Generally, those comments are intended to be sarcastic. Progress is change for the better, but sometimes changes intended to make things better instead makes them worse. Thus the sarcastic comments pointing out the irony of the situation.
If pro is the opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?
Progress is like a compass - it points you in a certain direction even if you don’t know what’s in that direction.
Societies are trying hundreds of different alternatives all the time - because we don’t in advance which are good ones and which are bad ones. But gradually the results of these different alternatives seperate out the good from the bad. The bad alternatives get abandoned and the good ones become the standard. And the process continues - today’s good alternative will eventually be superceded by tomorrow’s better alternative.
Regress? 
Indoor plumbing. That’s progress.
I’m not seeing a factual question in the OP. Moving to GD.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
“My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.” - G. K. Chesterton
When I hear people praising progress, it seems to consist of celebrating positive changes in society and ignoring negative changes. If fifty years ago black children went to separate schools and now they attend the same schools as white children, that’s progress. If the United States has a much higher percentage of its population in prison now than it did fifty years ago due partly to various policies that discriminate against blacks, that’s something that one just shouldn’t think about very much.
To paraphrase the Kung Fu master - “Progress in not a path to a door, but a road leading forever to the horizon.”
Better than simply being jailed because they’re black.
Everyone whom I’ve ever spoken to on this subject who think progress is a bad thing has been someone who wishes to go back to an earlier, more ideal time full of overt racism, sexism, and classism. It is a fact that by any reasonable standard one can think of, we are better now than we were 50 years ago, and will be better off in the future.
Why?
Is measuring how well off we are by the percentage of the population in jail, the fewer the better, not a reasonable standard?
Overt racism is better than subtle, because in the latter, at least people know it’s wrong even if they still harbor the feelings. It’s one step towards eliminating or decreasing racism
Because jail is only one standard you’re focusing on to the detriment of everything else. We are more free now. Consumers have more protections. There are less deaths during birth. Medicine is better and more efficient. There are less unwanted pregnancies. There is less discrimination outside of jail when it comes to minorities and gender. Technology is better. People have more choices. People are healthier and live longer. Lots and lots of things are better now than they were before. And even if we simply look at prison population like you want to, we are still better because it’s no longer simply a given that you’ll be convicted if it’s a black on white allegation. People aren’t as eager to excuse racists killing blacks simply because the accused is white. Things are better now than they’ve ever been
Of course we should think about it. That doesn’t mean we can’t also celebrate the good stuff.
What, you think black people were less likely to be discriminated against in the criminal justice system back when they went to different schools?
Not necessarily. You know who started the idea of imprisonment as a punishment for crime? The Quakers. They saw it as an advance in humane rehabilitation over the traditional means of punishment which were execution and severe coroporal punishment.
Or maybe the increase in prison population reflects advances in police methods - maybe we’re apprehending and convicting a higher percentage of criminals.