Progress and Change

Progress is something we like, that the other guy has to adapt to. Change is something we have to adapt to. We all like progress. We all dislike change. People are wondering what’s going on in American politics this year. Don’t click off: I am not going there. I will not discuss politics on a public forum. What I will do is talk about why we see so much anger—even rage, everywhere.

Change = Pain. That’s a psychological fact. Having to adapt to something new is stressful. Consider how much change the world has seen in just the past half century and you will understand how much pain people all over the world have been going through. It might just make them a bit cranky. Possibly angry. Maybe even outraged. Let's look at change from a specific point of view--language. The pace of change, what some people have called "the collapse of time," is reflected in our language, To see just how much things have changed ,let's bring this home. Imagine your grandmother. Let’s say she was born in 1945—a lot of people were. Imagine her at about five years old, in 1950. And imagine what she’d say if someone asked her what the following words meant:

Amazon

Burnout

Calculator

Click on

Day care

Email

Fax

Information overload

Indie Pub

Internet

I-phone

LGBT

Micro chip

Network

Tablet

Video conference

Women’s liberation 

We’re living in an age of the most rapid change the world has ever seen. People are being asked to adapt to more and more change, more and more quickly, or be left behind. Change=Pain. Very few of us like pain.