Idea Of Progress Bac D'anglais

I’m going to talk about the idea of progress. To be more precise, because progress is quite an evasive term, I’m going to deal with the advantages and the drawbacks of development of science concerning child birth. When you hear progress, you must think of a forward movement, and yet, we must moderate this idea. The reason why I have chosen this burning issue is because I want to highlight not only how science progress is great, but also how it can become dangerous for humanity. To illustrate my point, I will base on several documents: articles, two cartoons untitled a brave new world and odd man out, and a movie: Gattaca.

First of all, I won’t blame scientists for their work since there are today some miraculous triumphs of modern medicine. For example, Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, also called PGD, was a huge step in science. Thanks to it, we can now prevent many genetic diseases and even save lives. For example, an article published in 2010 in USA Today traces the History of a teenager, Molly, who got a bone narrow from her little brother which saves her life. Actually, her brother was selected with PGD because he had the system characteristics that made him an ideal transplant candidate. Therefore, we may see progress of science like a great thing.

However, the article from Globe online published in 2010 that I chose shows well that there is another side to every coin. It is about designer baby whose genetic make-up is artificially selected by engineers. Then, scientists use in vitro fecundation to ensure the presence of particular characteristics. The journalist describes in a grotesque way how parents are going to make children. According to him, scientific progress is the first step to eugenics; he even talks about a fast food order concerning children genes. He strongly opposed to PGD in so far as he worries that this advance goes awry and that in a near future we assist to the birth of “second class” citizens who will be people that did not have enough money to buy great genes.

Actually, he shares his preoccupation with many people since both cartoons deal with the same issue. The first one presents a scientist who claims proudly the end of imperfect people and who is confronted with a woman who remains him about some great figures that were disabled like Van Gogh, Stevie Wonder, or even Roosevelt. This way, the cartoonist shows that, had they been perfect, they may not have achieves the same things. Therefore, we can assume that he means that we have to let nature do its work if we don’t want to miss. The same way, the cartoon odd man out shows a factory where all the men look alike and those who are different are rejected. This is quite a frightening vision of a world where designing baby has become a habit.

Eventually, the movie Gattaca by Andrew Niccol released in 19968 depicts a dystopia where children are selected through PGD to make sure they possess the best hereditary traits. In this sickening future, natural born children are rejected because they are considered as inferiors. This way, doctors in charge of babies design act like sellers and it seems like a genetic market appears. Indeed, the movie follows the life of an in valid pretending to be valid to fulfil his dreams.

To put it in a nut shell, I have the feeling that in the notion the idea of progress, the word idea is as important as the word progress. Indeed, if science seems to be so powerful and even

...