progress: development or cumulative improvement, as of an individual or a civilization.
Dictionary definition aside, try an experiment: See if you can get a consensus among several people you know about what progress looks like to them. Start by asking them how much progress we've made as a species in the past twenty-five years. How about as a country? Good luck.
The concept of progress gets personal for me when considering the intersection of technology and art. I first became concerned about this years ago when music sampling began growing in popularity. It is now so ubiquitous that casual listeners enjoying a riff or rhythmic figure in a "new" song often don't realize that riff or figure was sampled, i.e., lifted from an earlier recording. As digital technology has advanced, the sounds non-musicians can patch together with little more than a laptop are sonically astounding. All without ever having spent an hour practicing an instrument. Progress.
Lest you think this reflection on the word progress is just sour grapes from an old fart musician, how about this? Available today is an artificial intelligence application called Sudowrite that can assist authors in writing their books. Think I'm making this up? Google it. Better yet, read the closing essay in the September 23 edition of The Week, entitled The Novel-Writing Machine. If that article doesn't shake you up a little, we can agree to disagree on what this thorny word progress looks like today. I desperately want to believe that great musicians, writers, and other artists are destined to prevail despite technology's inexorable march toward art. In the meanwhile, add progress to the growing list of words that can haunt me.
Definitely a thorny issue. Thanks for inviting me ponder that word....
ReplyDeleteInes; You're welcome; thanks for reading, commenting, and pondering!
Delete"Progress" is also happening in the art world where AI is being used by an app called Lensa to generate art quality avatars upseting artists. Check out this article: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/lensa-ai-artist-controversy-ethics-privacy-rcna60242
DeleteChris; Thanks for two comments in one day especially since neither post is strictly about music. Although I plan to check out the article you cited, think I'll wait until a day when I'm feeling prepared to be dispirited about yet another way modern technology/progress is intruding on art. Shit.
DeleteGood afternoon, Pat. Progress does try to sound like a positive word, idea, thought. But there are so many things that have been done over the years in the name of 'progress' that are hardly that. At least in my mind. Having the ability to cure disease and illness is progress. Having the ability to destroy life, property, etc, can also be called progress, but is that positive? Weapons that can fire more rounds in a minute than anyone would ever need ... Is that progress? I get nervous when I don't have my cell phone that 25 years ago didn't exist. Progress. My car is equipped with so many safety devices that I honestly don't know what all of them are or how to use them. But my car does. Progress. You Tube, Instagram and Tic Tok can make someone an instant celebrity - and has. Progress ? The ability to use ones own home and cell phone, tablet or PC to upload their 'talent' is progress. But also something that I'm sure not everyone agrees with. I do believe that most progress is positive. Unfortunately, as with so many other things, it is not always.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; Thanks for the comprehensive comment. Especially appreciate the many examples you used to augment my point about the ways the word progress can be fraught with conflict, e.g., "improved" weaponry, You Tube/Tik Tok "talent", etc.
Delete