ok so i’ve heard at least 2 different definitions of progress.
- one strictly defines progress as technological progress. the reasoning is that “progress” comes from latin “pro-gress” (marching forward) which refers to any labor process feeling very similar to a long march. exhausting.
- another nice angle i’ve heard was that “progress” is a play-on-words with progesterone which is a substance produced by biological women to advance various internal processes, as such it is understood as “what women do” or as women’s movement. it’s silly but i’ve heard it and now so have you.
especially, do you think that “progress” properly describes your goals? do you say that progress is what we need as a society? if no, how else would you describe your goals?
Take it as granted that civilisation is improving over the long term. Then, “progress” is when that improvement happens.
If it’s not improving over the long term, progress is no longer a meaningful concept. There’s no real word for it in ancient languages, since people either thought everything was slowly getting worse, or perpetually staying about the same. (And honestly, was 1500AD better than 1500BC?)
Edit: Per the questions in the text, saying you want progress is just saying you believe in this kind of “whig history”, and you would like society to improve somewhat.