Progress as lines vs. progress as spirals

Physical exercising, say strength training, will see rapid gains at the start then less as time goes on. But also, you get sick one day and can't do as much, or you get very sick and stop working out for a couple weeks and you have to build up again.

Some progress is linear. Some progress is like a spiral, in that it cycles back around on itself.

The line and the cycle meet in the helix. Take two helixes, add cross-links and you've got the structure of DNA. But a DNA molecule could be all curled up in a bundly mess or it could be stretched out in an astronomically long line. 

(How does the fact go? If you stretched out all the DNA in your body, it would be longer than from the couch to the TV? Or longer than you'd want to walk on Sunday afternoon? Or maybe it's longer than the typical North American would be willing to drive in 24 hours? Or was it from Earth to the Moon? Or was it 160 lightyears?)

The higher-order spiral-linear helical progress could itself be more line-like or more spiral-like.

Ambition can be a distant point in space (160 lightyears, the Moon, a Sunday afternoon walk) which demands linear progress. What is the ambition of cyclic progress? Perhaps it's an attitude: Every day that I'm well enough, I do strength training. Or: the goal of the game is to keep playing.

In the socio-political world of progress, if you gain respect, that's nice -- or perhaps desperately necessary -- but a more lasting change for you would be for you to gain power. In utopia, no one would be subject to insults (say); we would all have respect. But a utopia would be fragile indeed if half the people had no power. (Isn't it convenient that women already have the right to vote in the USA and isn't it confusing that women aren't now equally represented in government.) Diffusion of power would represent linear progress to me, while shifting around who gets respect seems more like a cyclical process.

Part of the frustration that I find with progress of all sorts is when it's cyclical but I want it to be linear. Some part of me wishes that my muscles would gain a tiny bit of strength every day in some unending line. But what I'm wrestling with here is a fundamental part of the human condition and a fundamental aspect of this everchanging reality. 

Failing the linear progress possible with artificially straight paved roads and gasoline engines (pay no attention to the emissions behind the curtain), I suppose it's a blessing to have progress in any shape at all.

Hope 2.0

Here in 2025, there's no shortage of big problems floating around. Newspapers make sure that you're fully aware of any existing or new problems (they capitalize on outrage and despair). You also have a bundle of your own local & individual problems!

If one looks around and thinks about the future, it's somewhat natural to be hopeless.

But when I examine that hopelessness, both in myself and in others, I am starting to wonder if my concept of hope requires some re-shaping. 

I suggest a model of hope that is discipline-based. Here's more:

One. What is the shape of hope that I had before?

• Hope is an internal response to external circumstances.
• Hope is built on what I can see, mostly -- hope is based on the extrapolation from the current circumstances to future ones.
• In my specific case, hope is a virtue that was imported from my old Christianity without being revised for my new mostly-rationalist humanist meaningness outlook.
• Hope is a campfire on the hill that can be extinguished if the wind blows hard enough.

The above definition of hope needs to be upgraded! Because it's not delivering the goods.

Two. What new shape is desirable for hope going forward?

• Hope is a chosen attitude to orient oneself toward positive action and lucky opportunity.
• Hope is an act of the will regardless of the external, present circumstances.
• Hope is entirely a human concept, without reference to heaven / God / whatever.
• Hope is a mechanically powered flashlight that only goes out if the user stops exerting effort.

Ok what does this new approach to hope mean?

At first, hope is gonna seem a lot harder suddenly. If there's not too much wind, a campfire on the hill will sustain itself and even grow without much effort on your part. But that shake-powered flashlight will be dim until you charge up the battery.

This upgraded hope is like running: it's gonna be difficult and painful and requires extreme discipline. A hope married to courage. Each day, I gotta decide: am I hopin' today? And I gotta say yes, even if it's difficult. (Just do it? Maybe you need to buy a new pair of training shoes? Whatever helps!!) With practice, hope 2.0 will become more natural.

The potential payoff is great: hope in the darkest, scariest circumstances is redeemed.

Whether this is encouraging or discouraging -- well that's up to you!