The Conquest of the Future

Reading Wendell Berry has me thinking about the nature of exploitation, and conquest.  It is interesting to observe that conquest in the physical sense has been mostly completed. There are few places left pristine, unharmed, truly wild, and natural. There are few people who have been not been effected by the onslaught of mechanized modernization, and few landscapes that have been left unaffected.
However, the one arena where the battle is more covert is the future. It is an interesting assumption that   technology must make things better in the future, and somehow can not  do otherwise.  The most undisputed indicators of progress are also the things that seem to be making more people crazy, and creating cyclical modes of thinking wherein future growth is the only way to improve things.  There is this promise made, that sometime, after this growth happens, things will indeed be better. However, for most of the population, that simply isn't true.

Economic development always seems  to mean more of anything, but never does it mean taking the time to do something well. The promise of the future keeps us running towards something that will never arrive, and it is the most slippery promise that any one can make.
 But, that is why it is made . It lends itself very well into confusion that looks like some form of this:
"Are we happier?"
"Well, no. But thats because things can always be better, so lets just keep working and try to get more. "
"But didn't we all agree on this course of action because some how we were promised something that we wanted? "
"Well, lets just try this again and this time it will workout better then the last."

If you break down the mechanics of this loophole, the results can only make you feel as though you have been hoodwinked into believing that something, somewhere, in the future is just waiting to be invented that is going to make your life a lot easier, make you much more attractive, guide you to your true love, help you find your dream job, give you security, or fill in the blank with your own insecurity.
In the meantime, everything, that possibly can provide us any real security; good land, knowledge of how to grow your food, clean water, clean air, close communities to support you with laughter, friendship, love, hope, joy,  healthy children,  honest work, freedom from debtors, all of these things of real, true value are being let go of.  It as if the troubles of one life could be traded in for a life where all our troubles and problems were solved for us by machines and technology. 
Well, that simply isn't true. The beauty and satisfaction of having a real connection in your heart to what you  spend you days doing can not be underestimated. That is the longing  that is so easy to chase, but so hard to identify. It seems once a society is separated from it, the absence leaves such a laceration on the human consciousness that finding our way back seems impossible at times, and these other, false promises seem so attractive.
However, my personal belief is that our reality is, and always will be that we are beautifully united with each other and with the earth in a way that can never be replicated, and can never be lost.