Lack of any real progress in the "human condition"?

Question

While reading the Bible what was going on 2000 years ago, the order of the day was war, famine, disease, slavery, poverty, injustice, etc.

Fast forward to 2007 +, and what I see is the only real progress we have made is we smell better and posses cellphones. Is it not alarming that every civilization that has made technological "progress" winds up imploding?

Look at what has happened to the family unit since the start of the industrial revolution? And look at what is happening to personal relationships since the advent of the internet? The more "connnected" we become to a computer, an IPOD, a cell-phone, the more disconnected we become from each other?

And we also have swallowed the wholesale proaganda that gross-consumerism is the road to happiness...RIGHT!

Answer 1

History and paleontology seem to support the conclusion that evolution of civilization proceeds no more rapidly than evolution of the species itself. It had been thought that society would progress, and that religion would gradually fade away with the incredibly rapid advance of science, but there's no sign that will happen. Violent tribalism and the steady destruction of the planet continue with more efficiency and speed. Humans are, socially and intellectually, the same as we were 10,000 years ago. There's a greater quantity of knowledge, but the same low level of wisdom.

Answer 2

You make a pretty good argument for original sin.

"People haven't changed. They are as rational—and irrational—as they were in the old days. They are as moral and law-abiding—and not—as ever. Many new things have been learned, many new situations evolved, but I do not believe that the nature of man has altered significantly in the time you've slept. Nothing you do is going to change that."

Answer 3

I agree completely! *coughsnocoughsprogresscough*

Answer 4

Thanks... you've depressed me now. I think about this stuff often enough as it is.