Idea of Progress : progress and ethics

The idea of Progress

Introduction :

        I am going to introduce you the notion of the idea of progress and to focus on the real value of progress. The progress is the development towards a better, more complete, more modern condition.

        Everyday the humanity discovers more and more ways to improve our lives. Nonetheless, many new technologies can become more hazardous than useful for ourselves as we can see it in a Star Wars extract in which clones are created. Thus it is worth wondering whether progress is always for the better good. Firstly we will see that progress can present attractive points. Then we will study how progress can be an obstacle to ethics. Finally we will try to understand why progress can be harmful for our freedoms.

1. Progress enables the development of societies

        First of all, progress enables a better development of societies to the extent that today we can have a better outlook on our world thanks to many tools. Thanks to progress we are now able to prevent many events or to keep in touch with someone else even if he is on the other side of the planet. We are now able to extend life expectancies all around the world by preventing more illnesses or transplanting organs to those who need new ones.

        For instance, we studied in class an article from The Telegraph named « Saviour sibling » in which a man saved his brother’s life by giving him stem cells. Indeed, his parents had a new baby and patents extracted him stem cells from his umbilical cord. These were used to treat the eldest. We can see here that medical advances play an important part in the health improvement.

1. Progress can be an obstacle to ethics

        Nevertheless progress can be an obstacle to ethics in some fields such as cloning or artificial intelligences. Actually ethics has marks which cannot be overstepped by the progress. According to a majority, cloning is not ethical insofar as it avoids the fate of Nature : you cannot ask to have a baby choosing all his features.

        For example, in a text named « Designer baby » we can notice that a couple had a second baby, Anna, to save the life of their first child Kate. Anna’s DNA has been carefully selected so that her kidneys perfectly match with her sister’s. Anna is overrun by the situation and feels like a spare part baby who were just created in order to save the life of her elder as she said « They had me so that I could save Kate »

1. Progress can be harmful for our liberty

        Last but not least even if in few domains progress can improve our way of life, some people think that progress could encroach upon our liberties. Indeed, with progress we are ever more connected to each other and it might be an interesting way for governments or companies to keep a close eye on us. That is why we have to remain attentive in order to avoid a loss of liberties.

        Let’s take the example of a text named « Welcome to the team ». In this extract an American company suggests implanting microchips for all its employees. Chips allow them to be faster in their professional tasks such as opening doors, using the copy machine or logging into their office computers. Even if it can be helpful for employees, it is mostly a way for the company to spy on them and to win more money tanks to their better productivity.

...