Progress is a measure of things being different, not necessarily better. And talking about it as an achievement can actually make it more difficult to spur real forward movement. If we want to understand our society’s progress, we need to change the way we speak about it.

This story was also published on The Correspondent here: https://thecorrespondent.com/720/why-the-world-can-get-worse-by-constantly-saying-its-getting-better/95290699680-8e501010

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Voice-over/producer: Emi PaternostroExecutive producer: Jacco Prantl

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