At The Knee of Life’s Exponential Growth Curve

Much of the reason for the exponential growth we see in the 20th and 21st centuries is because, for much of human history, things changed ever so slowly. Depending on what ‘slice’ of time you chose to look at, over a period of sometimes 5,000-10,000years, it looked as if evolutionary growth was almost stagnant. Of course, this is not literally true, but when you compare prehistoric growth to that of our modern day, it is truly incomprehensible. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, why did growth explode so much in just the last 500 years? The answer comes down not to lack of natural resources or a premature and still developing brain, but to a lack of trust in the future and a general doubt that life would ever be better than it was at that particular moment in time. Because of this generally doubtful populous, the idea of lending money never arose. That is, it never occurred to early human beings to invest in their future. Therefore, progress was extremely slow because nobody had the funds on hand to establish any business or service. At the time, there was no system or program in place from where you could acquire the needed capital. This is why, with the introduction of credit and financial loans, our global economy has boomed in a way far greater than we have ever seen throughout human history. The increased popularity and importance of science went hand in hand with the growth as mentioned above. When governments and private enterprises began lending funds to scientists to aid in their research, science took on a very new role. Science now found itself in a position where it was not solely focused on understanding the workings of the natural world, but now turned its focus to answering the question, “Will this project enable us to increase production and profits? Will it produce economic growth?” [Harari pp 314].
For me, progress often has many different means and depending on which meaning is being discussed, my opinion varies. In general, I see progress as a good thing, and I also think it’s both inevitable and inescapable. I think without this idea of progress there is no way I would be sitting here in the MSU library, typing this blog entry. It was the very idea of, and hope in progress that drove all the economic growth we benefit from today. Without that longing for the ever elusive “Better Life,” I don’t think we as a species would have had the motivation or even the inspiration to go through the necessary hoops that lead humanity to where it is today.