3 ms·

I'd wager it came from positive associations with the notion of "scientific progress". Google NGrams: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=scientific+

I'd wager it came from positive associations with the notion of "scientific progress". Google NGrams: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=scientific+progress&year_start=1700 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=scientific+pro... It correlates pretty cleanly with "social progress" as well https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=scientific+progress%2Csocial+progress&year_start=1700&year_end=2019 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=scientific+pro...

B1FF_PSUVM 4y ago
The killer is "historical progress" - around Montaigne's time they still debated if the (golden age) ancients or the moderns had it. Afterwards they lost all doubt. What people will do for a little aspirin ... (Marx went to town on it, paradise on earth was at hand. Scientifically, of course.)