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Originally Posted by ARTelevision
Can you see other ways in which we have allowed notions of evolution or progress to permeate areas of thought in which other - less linear and hierarchical - ways of thinking might do us much better as a thinking collective?
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I agree with you that the arts (visual, music, theatre, literature, etc..) evolving do not mean progress in the sense that they get better with each iteration. I think the cave drawings at Lascaux are some of the most beautiful ever done by humans. The same can be said about the other arts as well. The tools used for creating have evolved mostly in the positive or at least more alternative direction though such as cinema, music samplers, computers, etc.. I often wonder what Da Vinci or Mozart could do with our modern tools.
Politics and economics may also be examples of endeavers that are not improving (progressing) much. Governments seem to come into existence, evolve for a while, then end in chaos. I don't think democracy has been around long enough to determine if it can stand the test of time yet. War has certainly evolved improved methods for killing through science but our ability to avoid it has not. Monetary systems come and go.
Off the top, I cannot think of a science that has not evolved in a progressive fasion. Unless we consider the ability to annihilate ourselves easier a step backward.
Just because some of the things mentioned above do not seem to be evolving in a positive direction does not necessarily mean that progress isn't being made though. Trying things that haven't been done before at least shows us what doesn't work.