Notion Idea of progress

IDEA OF PROGRESS

I'm going to talk about the idea of progress. To begin with, I'd like to state the definition of progress. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world can become better in terms of art, science, technology, liberty, and quality of life. However, sometimes progress causes more problems than it solves. That's why we can ask ourselves: what are the positives and negatives aspects of progress? Consequently, we are going to see the differents aspects of progress in science, medicine and new technologies.

I. Positive aspects of progress

At first, progress can improve people's lives. Indeed, new technologies can for example help people in their tasks. That's what we saw in the Sofia's interview. Sofia is a robot who looks very humanlike, she's designed to serve healthcare, therapie, education, customer service. In future, we can imagine a society where robots and humans live together in order to create a more confortable and more optimized wolrd. It could be a positive thing because peoples could be live happier.

We also talked about another new technology : Internet and the cell phones. In today's world, with the development of technology, Information and Communications Technology have inevitably become an important element in our lives because of it being quick and easy to use. People have become busy in spite of their jobs, so they want to reach information in the easiest way and to keep in touch with their family members and their friends.

For sure, progress in science and especially in medecine in one of the bigger evolutions of the last centuries. Today, the doctors can cure almost all illness thanks to new genical technologies. Many lives have been saved thanks to health services and doctors, always more efficient. In my opinion, we have the luck to live in an era where the health isnt a permanent danger and where we can live for a long time.

New technologies in general have improved our living conditions, yet science's progress also raises some issues.

I. Negative aspects of progress Howewer, From an ethical point of view, some forms of progress could be negatives and even scaryfing. We can take in example the new genetics technologies. Effectively, in some clinics in some countries, parents can choose characteristics of their future baby thanks to a complex technologie of DNA modification. Even if it doesnt see today, the consequences in some generations could be creepy. In class, we have study a cartoon picture that tries to predict the future: a society where everybody look same and if someone is different, the person is rejected. That's why the « baby design » is a technologie prohibited in many countries.

We can extend the problem on a second new form of technologie : the cloning. Cloning raises problems because destroying embryos and using them only for the purpose of research would be considered unethical. Moreover, cloning could become a real market and would devalue children, treating them as commodities.

Addiction to new technology recently became a phenomenon among young people. It can be seen in particular on the internet because there is sometimes a lack of control over the information disseminated. We can also say that the Internet and social networks isolate us inside a virtual world, creating a lack of human contact and making some people disconnected from the real world. Moreover, recent studies show that the cell phones might have some effects on the our health.

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