Idea of Progress : Does science bring people together or does it divide society ?

First of all I'd like to give a definition of progress. The idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change. This is a technical, scientific or social advance which contributes to make the world a better place. Here I'll focus on the scientific progress. Nowadays, thanks to scientists, we have cures for diseases that first of all we didn't know it existed and secong that we couldn't afford a long time ago. We also have: clone or GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms). Therefore, I decided to choose the medical side of scientific progress, with its ethical issues. Consequently, we can ask ourselves if science bring people together or if it divides society.

In order to discuss this subject, I decided to choose two documents studied in class, which are “Design Your Baby” and “Fighting for a Future”, from My Sister's Keeper, published in 2004 and written by Jodi Picoult. Along with my personal document which is Elysium, a movie released in 2013 and directed by Neill Bloomkamp.

To begin we'll see the contribution of medical progress on society, then the issues it can bring.

I- A blessing for society?..

a-Organ transplant, surgery

“Design Your Baby”, Elysium→ prevent diseases

b- Parents that can't have babies naturally

II-.. Or a cure?

a-Separate families “Fighting for a Future” → sibling savior=agree or not? (exploited)

→ “an heir and a spare”

b- Discrimination: btw wealthy and poor people, second class citizens → bottom of the social ladder.

To conclude we can say that it differs on the point of view for some like in the movie “Elysium” we can see that it clearly divides the society in two parts: the wealthy and the poor. Or else in “Fighting for a Future” when Anna pursue her parents because she didn't want to give a kidney to her sister who is sick. To my mind it is obvious science divides the society because some of us have access of some operation that others won't, or even going to the doctor this is accessible for us, whereas for some it is not.

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