Human Flourishing as

Reflected in Progress
and Development
By: Jeford T. Apostol
 How do we know
that we are
progressing? What
are the indicators
of development?
• We can see all around us are many
infrastructure were build and more technology
exist. These indicators that humans are also
progressing because progressing starts to
ourselves before it reflects to our society.
• More often than not, development is equated
with growth and greater consumption. The
more that a population is able to consume, the
wealthier it is.
• Likewise, the more that a person is able to buy
stuff, the higher he/she is on the development
scale, the planet, however, is already
overburdened with human activities.
• It is about time that we rethink our standards
of development if we truly want to live the
good life.
• Jason Hickel, an
anthropologist at the
London School of
Economics, challenges
us to rethink and reflect
on a different paradigm
of “de-development”.
How much do we
really need to live
long and happy
lives?
In the US, life
expectancy is 79
years and GDP per
capita is $53,000.
As a species humans like
to eat more, be warmer
and generally consume
more than their
ancestors. Also, they are
quite good at increasing
their numbers. Put the
two together and you
get unsustainable
consumption.