PROGRESS ENG

Progress

To start off, I'm going to define the notion of progress. Progress is an improvement, a development or a change that goes toward a more advanced situation. What effect does progress have on our society? Can it be considered good or bad ? To answer these questions, I'll look at scientific progress, and then the technological progress to illustrate the notion.

[SCIENCE]

For hundreds of years, research and experiences of many scientists has resulted in medical advances.

First there is the method of embryo screening. This technique is a good thing for parents who can't have children, and also to save their babies from life threatening illnesses, like Jamie's brother in "Saviour sibling",where he saved his brother with stem cells from the umbilical cord in the text . But this has also many drawbacks. For example Anna, in the text "Designer baby” went to see a lawyer because she refuses to give her sister a kidney, even if that means death for her, and the text kind of show us the procedure in a bad light. It is good to save one's life, but why should we put other people lives on the line to do so ? The two documents show very different points of views, but I do agree with the latter. For me, this procedure is helping the world going forward, but it shouldn't have to rely on other people. Nonetheless, we may wonder about two things. Is it necessary to save a human life at any cost? At a point when the world population is increasing at top speed, wouldn't it be "a solution" to resort to "natural selection" and leave "mother nature" work by itself?

The embryo screening technology helps saving lives as we mentioned earlier, but also has a very debated side to it. It can allow people to choose the sex of their baby. It could be dangerous for the balance of humankind. There is the risk of not having enough potential mothers for the survival of mankind, as it is the case in India with the recording « Famillies desperate for sons. » In India, people would rather have boys than girls, as they are financially more attractive, whether its to hold the family business, or for marriage, as the bride's family has to pay the groom's .

To conclude, the embryo related technologies are helping the world going forward and is an incredible medical prowess, but one of the dangers might be to reach "eugenism". Why not imagine that one day, an embryo might be killed because once born, he won't be blue eyed?

[TECHNOLOGY]

Internet. It was created in the seventies and has revolutionized the world. Almost everything we do in our life today, from communication, study, work and leisure, needs the Internet. It is fast and simple to use. Since the last decade, we can even access internet on our phones, with 4G services and free wifi in the streets. So now, we have Internet everywhere we go, and not just in our house like it used to. What is more, most of the world's Internet users believe Internet access is a basic human right. However The New York Times has reported on a problem that many of us have but are not aware of : Internet addiction. There are many drawbacks because technology is changing people. People become more forgetful

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