Yes we cannot re-simulate the world or do A/B testing with different versions of it. It is what it is. I find Progress to be a nebulous/relative term. Defining

Yes we cannot re-simulate the world or do A/B testing with different versions of it. It is what it is. I find Progress to be a nebulous/relative term. Defining it depends whether on you can measure things. Things that cannot be measured are outside its purview. For all our pervasive data gathering capability we lack intuitive understanding of how the complex interconnected adaptive system, that is the real world, works. Some change one would consider minor or harmless might balloon into a crisis years down the line, because the conditions have changed or we didn't consider feedback or were not even aware of it. I agree with you that whether to act or not is indeed a dilemma. But when we do, the question is, are we acting with this humbling awareness, or are we just arrogantly tinkering with it. In hindsight, we find it has been mostly the latter, at least for the last 500 years. And you are right, that is just how it is.