Evolution or Progress?

Adam Neiblum asks what the difference is, and why it matters.

- Adam Neiblum

Progress' and 'evolution' are widely considered synonyms, and are used interchangeably every day. Most people also regard evolution, in the Darwinian sense, to be a form of progress or improvement. We often hear talk about our species evolving to a higher state of being or a more advanced consciousness. But progress and evolution are not the same thing, and describe very different forms of change. Recognizing the differing kinds of change has a direct bearing upon our understanding of what it means to be Homo sapiens, both as a member of a culture and also as an animal – a product of the very evolutionary process that has created and shaped every species, including our own. So the conflation of 'progress' and 'evolution' matters more than a mere semantic error.

First, evolution consists of:

A) A genetic mutation in an organism;

B) A consequent change in body and/or behavior;

C) Rigorous testing of that body and/or behavior through interactions between the organism and its environment. If this change benefits the organism in terms of better reproductive potential – that is, in its 'fitness' - that change spreads into the subsequent generations.

Progress, meanwhile, consists of:

A) An ideal or goal - literacy, or justice, for example;

B) A gap between this ideal and the real-world state of affairs;

C) A process of movement - individually, collectively, or even species-wide – towards that goal or ideal.