Progress?

It is something of an irony to me that the progress of human knowledge and the progress of human society seem to be headed in, if not opposite, then at least different, directions these days. Casual perusal of the World Wide Web reveals an astounding array of new and exciting discoveries in history and medicine and astronomy and zoology and basic sciences and all sorts of other stuff, including information about the personal lives of celebrities and the sexual habits of the elderly, or the personal sexual habits of elderly celebrities. Of course, not all information is equally as useful or interesting, but you would think that being as knowledgeable as we are about so many things, that everything would be going just fine, which it isn't, in case you hadn't noticed.

Up until about 15,000 years ago, almost every member of a society was on an equal footing from an educational perspective. The school of hard knocks was the only accredited institution back then and everybody had a Major in hunting with a Minor in gathering, or perhaps visa versa, depending on age and gender, but everyone had the same skill set and access to all the common knowledge of the society. Of course, some members were more proficient at specific skills than others; if you were particularly gifted at throwing rocks accurately, you could control resources and attain status; whereas, if you threw like a little girl, you could carry heavy shit around and eat the berries with the bad spots. This lack of specialization in knowledge allowed technological culture to be easily transmitted and helped societies to survive the random loss of individuals without loss of scientific progress. If Oog, a master flint-shaper, was eaten by a Saber Toothed Cat while unwisely relieving himself near some tall grasses, the community might temporarily suffer from aesthetically unappealing spear tips and a slight increase in aerodynamic drag, but chances were somebody would know enough to make at least marginal weapons and the tribe would still be able to bring down enough game to feed everybody, even if it might be older and weaker animals which tended to be a bit chewy.

We all know the story about how the development of agriculture and domestication of livestock resulted in surpluses of food which allowed increased specialization of the functional roles of individuals in society, as well as how these surpluses facilitated the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie and the establishment of a parasitic theocratic elite, but most of us don't truly appreciate the extent to which specialization in the discovery and preservation of knowledge has made us all idiots. If you doubt this, open the hood of your 2000 model year or later vehicle and identify by name just ten of the several hundred individual components of the engine. Hint, none of them is the carburetor. Some of you may do better than others at this, but, chances are, a very small percentage of the general public knows the engine is under the hood rather than in the glove box. The same holds true for diagnosing a skin rash, installing a ceiling fan or conducting a DNA test; we have to rely on total strangers to address a wide range of critical issues in our lives and we have no idea if these strangers are decent, honorable people, or if they are serial murderers or Republicans.

This complex web of societal interdependence may not necessarily completely be a bad thing; by being forced to enter into relationships of mutual benefit with a wide range of other society members, we are pushed to tolerance and compromise, if sometimes only begrudgingly, and ultimately these relationships can become the foundation of true understanding and respect on a personal level. The downside of this is that, knowing very little about anything of substance, most of us are required to rely on the representations of people who are either acknowledged or self-proclaimed experts in a subject, and since we don't know squat about most stuff, we often can't tell the difference between the two. This allows us to be manipulated and exploited by those who may be inclined to do so, and these evil individuals are most often the ones who make the most persistent and vocal efforts to influence us, whether bogus car repairman, useless gadget salesman or candidate for political office, because it most directly benefits them financially or ideologically. The true experts are generally not nearly so enthusiastic about spending their time trying to educate our dumb asses. 

It would be fair to say that modern life is pretty complex and a person of reasonable intelligence cannot be an expert in everything, but we could all be considerably more knowledgeable about the general nature of most things and how the world actually works socially and scientifically. We could all learn to discern fact from fiction and apply the techniques of critical thinking if we took the time to do so. With the tremendous wealth of information available at our fingertips, we could actually look at all sides of an issue and consider different opinions on matters of substance. We could accept our civic responsibility as citizens of a democratic republic and make sure we actually know something about the public issues whose fate will be decided by our votes. We could stop watching TV and texting for a few minutes and make sure we understand a few things well enough to pass something on to our children besides our own ignorance. We could, but what are the odds?