Progress and collapse

This temporal experience, characterized as the hyper-present, exists in a paradoxical dance between progress and collapse. It unfolds as an unending clash of opposing forces, within which humanity manages to endure. In the words of Braidotti (2019), it’s a convergence between the fourth industrial revolution and the sixth extinction — a coexistence of the “best of times and worst of times.” The rapid pulse of capitalism drives forward human globalization and champions techno-scientific innovation, propelling us toward progress. Yet, this very system also exposes the troubling essence of the Anthropocene era.

Our journey is intertwined with an infrastructure that refuses to halt, as doing so would unravel the intricate scaffolding sustaining modern society. Yet, this same infrastructure acts as the catalyst for an unsettling disruption in the intricate web of life-sustaining processes. Consequently, our path navigates the delicate balance between simultaneous collapse and progress, a complex trajectory shaped by the inexorable forces of our age.

Progress emerges as the intricate evolution of power relations and dynamics, fueled by a creative impulse that draws us toward solutions and knowledge acquisition in the face of challenges, nurturing a sense of self-fulfillment. Yet, woven into the fabric of our values is a strain of competitiveness that often obstructs the potential for collaboration across diverse perspectives. It becomes a relentless contest, a battle for the survival of socio-economic identities. Within the domain of advanced capitalism, a deceptive notion takes root — the belief that scientific, economic, and technological advancements inherently extend human happiness (Berardi, 2003, 49). This notion propagates the illusion that these advancements hold the universal key to all our predicaments, providing a comprehensive remedy for our myriad challenges.

Within the realm of information, knowledge resides as a battleground where power dynamics vie for dominance, each contending to establish their own version of truth in service of a progress that bolsters specific agendas, often driven by economic motives. As articulated by Foucault (Foucault & Fontana, 1999, 54), this realm becomes a crucible for the ongoing “struggle for truth,” or at least a struggle in its vicinity. This struggle manifests as a fierce competitiveness, propelling a form of progress wherein the ramifications of facts take a backseat to the socio-economic implications they carry — essentially, the ultimate pursuit of capital gains.

This prevailing ideology inevitably begets a sense of estrangement, leading to the marginalization, depreciation, and exploitation of both human and non-human entities, entwining a cycle of alienation within its framework.

Consequently, we find ourselves ensnared within a crisis marked by the oscillation between progress and collapse, a perpetual ricochet between exhilaration and despondency, possibility and impossibility. Our current condition is one of awe, ensnared by the technological marvels that surround us we are offered an unceasing stream of conveniences, information, diversions, and allurements that thrust the diversity of human identities into a kaleidoscope of challenges.

This forward momentum, steered by the pursuit of capital gain, relentlessly chases immediate returns, frequently with no ethical considerations and oblivious to the temporal echoes foreshadowing potential breakdown. As a result, our landscape remains one where the exhilarating prospect of advancement is coupled with an underlying fragility, an intricate dance between aspiration and the looming shadows of consequence.