I agree, and I'm not even clear on what "grow" means. Like, literally increase global GDP? Increase some measure of productivity? Because already there's all sorts of contradictions in our society's "advancement."
Productivity is increasing, but wages are decreasing.
Country net worth is increasing, but happiness is decreasing.
Etc.
When I read these kinds of posts, I think about "stagnate." It feels like an inherently negative word. I know that most people value a constantly improving technology, but as my OP says, technology can "improve" while, say, net worth or GDP "stagnates." Even leaving that to the side, I don't feel like "stagnated" technological advancement is inherently bad. It's just a value many of us hold.
Not to get primitivist, but, humans really were just eating berries and vibing for a really long time. I don't think we should "return to monkey," but if we get to the point where we figure out that we can't really defeat death, it might then become time for society to instead start thinking about living the way a cancer patient with a deadline does: how can we find meaning, knowing the end is inevitable? Sure yeah meaning could be still trying to advance, but given that current modes of technological advancement often involve capitalist exploitation and general misery (which isn't REQUIRED but we seem to be really big fans of it cause we keep doing it), perhaps we could decide to let go and just live happily with "technological stagnation."
Productivity is increasing, but wages are decreasing.
Country net worth is increasing, but happiness is decreasing.
Etc.
When I read these kinds of posts, I think about "stagnate." It feels like an inherently negative word. I know that most people value a constantly improving technology, but as my OP says, technology can "improve" while, say, net worth or GDP "stagnates." Even leaving that to the side, I don't feel like "stagnated" technological advancement is inherently bad. It's just a value many of us hold.
Not to get primitivist, but, humans really were just eating berries and vibing for a really long time. I don't think we should "return to monkey," but if we get to the point where we figure out that we can't really defeat death, it might then become time for society to instead start thinking about living the way a cancer patient with a deadline does: how can we find meaning, knowing the end is inevitable? Sure yeah meaning could be still trying to advance, but given that current modes of technological advancement often involve capitalist exploitation and general misery (which isn't REQUIRED but we seem to be really big fans of it cause we keep doing it), perhaps we could decide to let go and just live happily with "technological stagnation."