Heading into the last phase of my working life, I still have no idea what to think of 'progress' and 'innovation'. I like that Jason Crawford (rootsofprogress.o

Heading into the last phase of my working life, I still have no idea what to think of 'progress' and 'innovation'. I like that Jason Crawford (rootsofprogress.org) is thinking and writing about these topics. Adjacently: I'm pretty sure there's a 'temperament' component. Pessimism vs optimism. Something like the OCEAN personality traits. Reactionary vs progressive. I've been binging politics, history, and philosophy. Stuff like the podcast Know Your Enemy, which traces the origins and rise of the current movement conservatives. I now have a better appreciation for the American anti-progress mindset. Typified by the movement's creator like this: A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it. -- William F. Buckley, Jr. For whatever reason, by whatever means, this anti-progress mentality is currently shared by a large fraction of the population. This belief has both left- and right-wing manifestations. For instance, as a tree hugger, I've definitely been a doomer wrt climate crisis. And now that it's been pointed out to me, I see similar defeatism among the left. Chris Hedges, obviously. But I'm talking about in my own life, as an activist and participant. So. This is a long way of saying, I hope Crawford, and others, eventually acknowledge that we have dozens of cohorts wrt "progress", and trying to bring everyone along is quixotic. Alternatively, I'd encourage him create, articulate, and the advocate his own political and moral philosophy of progress. There will always be haters, Eeyore's, concern trolls, and so forth. Glean whatever useful bits they offer. But otherwise ignore them. Any attention to the insincere, unconstructive critics is a distraction, keeping you from doing your own awesome thing. Advice I would give my younger, newly minted activist, if I could. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits