The strange bias we have in modern times:

If we cannot measure or perceive progress, it is meaningless.

But what about things which cannot and should not be measured? For example love for your partner or child, your progress in your artistic evolution, and just life in general?

The notion of progress as a modern and vulgar one

Taylorism. Once we were able to industrialize, open up international trade, record and document (spread sheets, bookkeeping, and the clock), the human ethos has become:

How can we extract the maximum efficiency and productivity of a human, and to make him as machinelike and slavelike as possible?

Or in other words:

As long as you still require a calendar, scheduling meetings, to check your email, own a phone, or wake up to the agency of an alarm clock, you ain’t 100% free from the ruthless cult of efficiency and productivity.