Idea of progress: is progress always a progress?

Idea of progress

I am going to talk about the notion “Idea of progress”. To begin with, I would like to give a definition of this notion. A progress is an evolution in order to make things improve positively. However, progress can also presents terrible consequences and even if its purpose was to solve problems, it can create others sometimes more serious.

That is why we may wonder if progress is always a progress. My presentation will fall into two parts. It would be very interesting to weigh the pros and after the cons of technological progress.

I- PROS

On the one hand, let’s study robotics that can be considered as a great progress for humanity.  

Indeed, according to the listening “Creating intelligent machines”, it liberates us from difficult tasks as in industry or the housework. In addition, robots are today much more productive than men, they can see and hear better. They are faster and can work almost 24h a day, they have unlimited energy. Then robotics permits to product more and to reduce prices.  

Moreover, progress can also help people in need as the sick. We studied in class a text corresponding to this aspect on a medical technique called PGD. This technique has led to reduce suffering for many individuals.

Thanks to progress, our world is working faster and faster. By using planes, phones, computers we can communicate faster, instantly. Moreover, we saw in class a video presenting a car that Google created. This car is driving itself. It permits to someone to someone who does not have a driver’s license to drive a car in security.

II-CONS

On the other hand, the text “O brave new world” talks about the principle of robotics that we talked in the first part. The extract makes us understand that we have to control this progress because robots and clones could replace us. Indeed, they are more efficient than we are and in this text, a man finds a way to fabric dozens of baby clones with only one egg. It looks like they want to create a perfect society where all individuals look the same. With this system, it will lead the world to a standardized one because clones cannot have feelings, they cannot adapt in case of special situation. That is why it is complicated to live with robots. It is a dystopia: a society which is supposed to be ideal but which will led to dramatics issues.

Moreover, the PGD progress we talked about previously has a dark side. Indeed, from an ethical point of view, genetic selection can become superficial rather than vital. If we can choose some aspects/genes of a new-born, some people will use this techniques for cosmetic purposes, for example.

Today, progress leads to a uniform way of life due to the phenomenon of globalization. It means for example that people dress the same and listen to the same music. In the text “o brave new world”, this point is illustrated. Indeed, the students behave like robots, no one give their opinion, they are submissive.

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