Dystopias, authoritarianism, technological threats… Is progress over

Chaos is not progress. Freedom to choose whatever you want without being responsible is not progress. Your choice at the cost of others is not progress. 😎

The idea that “progress” is some unbroken upward line is itself a pretty modern phenomenon – there’s been plenty of backsliding on living standards or politics throughout history, from the early Middle East to Rome to the Europe of the Black Death (and of course in the Americas shortly after the Europeans arrived, for those people who already lived there). We’re just unused to that idea.

Even in recent times, arguably ‘constant upward progress’ has only applied in some spheres (e.g. technology, and perhaps minority rights in a small part of the world) rather than in all spheres at once – or perhaps even that’s a superficial reading of those areas.

We should probably also set fears of regression in the West against the global context – for example, that since the 1970s or 80s more people have been lifted out of poverty than at any time, probably, in human history. So it varies, I think.

Here’s the thing. What books get and we don’t get now is that technology does not largely change human nature. At least on short scales as our lives actually are.

And to that, **us humans have not faced the reality that narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths are drawn to seek power, lie and persuade to get it and once they’re in power, are only satisfied creating or enforcing an artificial hierarchy where they feel “above” others by abusing and persecuting those people below**, commonly reinforced by manipulation of the masses’ base instincts like fear of the unknown, stories by the campfire (narratives), protection of family and friends, so on and so forth.

They will do this with ANY level of technology around themselves, and the greater the technology, the more refined and greater the ability to do this, both control/manipulate and persecute those same people.

What we’re seeing is the inevitability that would come from our rise in technology starting 30 years ago. Those people have learned to use it to do what they always do: accrue power and be only satisfied using it to crush those beneath them.

*Until we face the reality of these malignant forces in the world, those 1-2% of us who would be forever only happy ruling over a pile of ashes than sharing paradise as equals with others (and who are driven constantly to seek that power), they will continue to do it.*

The plague of untreated, malignant ASPD and NPD (and all other things resembling it) and the inability to do significant self-reflection to prevent being manipulated by them, is the entire reason why we can’t have a utopia we’ve read about.

We have the tech AND the resources to make earth a veritable paradise, with streets paved with gold. They choose to not have it that way because they want it this way.

I’m not saying this is forever, but i’m saying virtually no one is having the conversations I have about this, in 2025, when it’s raging right in front of us, and because of that, we’ve got a long way, and a lot of suffering to go.

The ONE video i’ve seen on it, ever:

[Brian Klaas: The world’s biggest problem: Powerful psychopaths](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJIOLTMitK4)

Humanity cannot handle prosperity and peace. We will try to reverse both continually. We will ALWAYS go against our best interest as a society.