“Technical progress and more comfortable living permit the systematic inclusion of libidinal components into the realm of commodity production and exchange. But no matter how controlled the mobilization of instinctual energy may be (it sometimes amounts to a scientific management of libido), no matter how much it may serve as a prop for the status quo - it is also gratifying to the managed individuals, just as racing the outboard motor, pushing the power lawn mower, and speeding the automobile are fun.” MaySometimesMatterIndividualEnergyFunProgressAmountComfortableManagementProductionsRealmsPushingControlledPermitRacingInclusionCommodityStatus QuoComponentsMotorAutomobileSystematicLawnsPropsSpeedingLibidoMobilizationMowers Author:Herbert Marcuse
“THERE is scarcely any inquiry more curious, or, from its importance, more worthy of attention, than that which traces the causes which practically check the progress of wealth in different countries, and stop it, or make it proceed very slowly, while the power of production remains comparatively undiminished, or at least would furnish the means of a great and abundant increase of produce and population.” MeanDifferentCountryCausesWealthAttentionProgressProduceImportanceIncreaseRemainsPopulationProductionsWorthyChecksCuriousInquiryDifferent Countries Author:Thomas Malthus
“Natural selection is just three factors - over-production, variation, and inheritance combined to produce adaptation to changing local environments. It's not a principle or progress; it's just a principle of local adaptation. You don't make better creatures in any cosmic sense; you make creatures that are better suited to the changing climates of their local habitats.” ThreeNaturalPrinciplesEnvironmentProgressProduceCreaturesClimateProductionsLocalsFactorsCosmicSelectionAdaptationInheritanceVariationNatural SelectionHabitat Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“The ancient bitter opposition to improved methods [of production] on the ancient theory that it more than temporarily deprives men of employment... has no place in the gospel of American progress.” MenProgressTheoryMethodAncientProductionsBitterEmploymentOpposition Author:Herbert Hoover
“The illusion that mechanical progress means human improvement ... alienates us from our own being and our own reality. It is precisely because we are convinced that our life, as such, is better if we have a better car, a better TV set, better toothpaste, etc., that we condemn and destroy our own reality and the reality of our natural resources. Technology was made for man, not man for technology. In losing touch with being and thus with God, we have fallen into a senseless idolatry of production and consumption for their own sakes.” IfsMenHumansMeanMadeRealityNaturalTechnologyOur LivesProgressCarTvsLosingIllusionResourcesSakeProductionsConvincedImprovementFallenEtcConsumptionConsumerismIdolatryNatural ResourcesOverconsumptionToothpaste Book:Seeds Source: Seeds
“Marxism is an interpretation of history which explains the progress of society as a product of the expansion of the forces of production of the material means of life, that is, the development of economy.” MeanForceEconomyProgressMaterialsProductsDevelopmentProductionsInterpretationExpansionMarxismProgress Of Society Author:Earl Browder
“The characteristic feature of modern capitalism is mass production of goods destined for consumption by the masses. The result is a tendency towards a continuous improvement in the average standard of living, a progressing enrichment of the many.” ResultsProgressModernMassStandardsCapitalismAverageProductionsImprovementTendenciesFeaturesCharacteristicsGoodsConsumptionDestinedStandards Of LivingContinuous ImprovementEnrichmentMass Production Author:Ludwig von Mises