It idee fan foarútgong is gjin natuerwet
January 3, 2026 · Frisian News
We treat progress as inevitable, but history shows societies move sideways and backwards just as often. The belief in endless improvement blinds us to real costs and trade-offs.
FryskRin troch in willekeurige Europeeske stêd en do findst ruïnes njonken glêzen torens, âlde hoeken ûnoantaast wylst projektûntwikkelders buerten platlegge. Dit fysike lânskip fertelt in wierheid dy't wy fergetten binne: maatskippijen klimme net stadich omheech. Se sjitte foarút, glide werom, wike sydlings út. Dochs flústerje ús polityk, media en skoallen allegear itselde evangeelje: foarútgong marsjearret troch, altyd, ûnûntkomber as swiertekrêft.
Dit leauwen yn foarútgong bepaalt hoe't wy it ferline beoardielje en de takomst plannje. Wy mjitte wolfeart oan BBP-groei, sjogge technologyske feroaring as automatysk goed, en behannelje skeptisy as efterlik. As der wat nijs komt, geane wy derfan út dat it fierder giet as wat dêrfoar kaam. In nije baan ferfangt in âlde, dus wurkgelegenheid giet goed. In nij medisyn behannelet symptomen better, dus giet de sûnens foarút. Wy freegje selden wat wy ferlearen, wat briek, of wa't de priis betelle. De kosten bliuwe ûnsichtber wylst de winsten fierd wurde.
Histoarisy witte it better. Rome boude aquaducten en wegen, ferlear dêrnei de kennis om se yn stân te hâlden. Midsiuwske stêden hiene skinner wetter en loft as yndustriële. Midsiuwske minsken wurken minder oeren as moderne. De boekdrukkeunst brocht lêsfermoegen en einleaze propaganda. It ynternet ferbinet ús en oerspoelt ús mei leugens. Lânbou fiedde mear minsken en smiet harren yn ferskillende foarmen fan earmoede. Antibiotika rêden miljoenen en skoep resistente baktearjes. Elke echte ferbettering draacht ferburgen skea mei. Wy kieze der gewoan foar it net te sjen.
It probleem rint djipper as boekhâldkundige flaters. Foarútgong as idee tsjinnet macht. As ferbettering fansels út de tiid fuortkomt, behearset wa't de takomst yn 'e macht hat it ferhaal. Steaten en bedriuwen ferkeapje ús feroaring en neame it foarútgong. Fragen oer wa't foardiel hat en wa't liidt wurde op 'e side skood as klachten fan de ferlearder fan de skiednis. De ideology makket ferset dwaas lykje. It fertelt arbeiders dat harren âlde banen minderweardich wiene, dus akseptearje de nije. It fertelt mienskippen dat harren tradysjes efterlik wiene, dus akseptearje de nije oarder. Ferset wurdt nutteleas omdat de takomst dochs ta foarútgong heart.
Wy moatte ophâlde te dwaan as oft de takomst better wurdt neffens natuerwet. Guon karren dy't wy meitsje sille it libben ferbetterje, en guon sille it beskedigje. Guon ôfwagingen helpe de measten wylst se minderheden ferpletterje. Guon feroaringen kinne wy net ûngedien meitsje. Earlike polityk betsjut dit iepentlik erkenne: wy kieze wat der folget, en wy sille mei de gefolgen libje. Foarútgong is gjin feit dat plakfine sil. It is in gok dy't wy dogge, en wy moatte de kânsen kenne foardat wy dy gok dogge.
Walk through any European city and you will find ruins next to glass towers, old corners left untouched while developers flatten neighborhoods. This physical landscape tells a truth we have forgotten: societies do not climb steadily upward. They lurch forward, slip back, veer sideways. Yet our politics, media, and schools all whisper the same gospel: progress marches on, always, inevitable as gravity.
This faith in progress shapes how we judge the past and plan the future. We measure prosperity by GDP growth, see technological change as automatically good, and treat skeptics as backward. When something new arrives, we assume it improves on what came before. A new job replaces an old one, so employment is fine. A new medicine treats symptoms better, so health advances. We rarely ask what we lost, what broke, or who paid the price. The costs stay invisible while the gains get celebrated.
Historians know better. Rome built aqueducts and roads, then lost the knowledge to maintain them. Medieval towns had cleaner air and water than industrial ones. Medieval people worked fewer hours than modern workers. The printing press brought literacy but also endless propaganda. The internet connects us and floods us with lies. Agriculture fed more people and trapped them in different kinds of poverty. Antibiotics saved millions and created resistant bacteria. Every genuine improvement carries hidden damage. We simply choose not to see it.
The trouble runs deeper than accounting errors. Progress as an idea serves power. If improvement flows automatically from time itself, then whoever controls the future controls the narrative. States and corporations sell us change and call it progress. Questions about who benefits and who suffers get brushed aside as complaints from the losing side of history. The ideology makes dissent seem foolish. It tells workers their old jobs were worse, so accept the new ones. It tells communities their traditions were backwards, so accept the new order. Resistance becomes futile because the future belongs to progress anyway.
We need to stop pretending the future will be better by law of nature. Some choices we make will improve life, and some will damage it. Some trade-offs help most people while crushing minorities. Some changes we cannot undo. Honest politics means admitting this plainly: we choose what happens next, and we will live with the consequences. Progress is not a fact waiting to occur. It is a bet we place, and we should know the odds before we place it.
Published January 3, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân