Nocion Idea Of Progress

Idea of progress

Documents :

_ An article of the Time : « My body, my laboratory »

_ The film « Welcome to Gattaca »

_ An article of the MailOnline « Should parents be able to choose their baby’s gender ? »

I’m going to talk about « Idea of progress ». To begin with, I’d like to state a definition of progress. Progress is the idea that the world and the society can evolve positively in terms of sciences, technology, modernization, living condition, etc. However, the idea of progress is still debated between those who consider that it’s beneficial and those for whom it’s harmful. Now, I propose we look at a question : « Should we fear progress ? »

First of all, I think progress is essential to evolve. History is made of progress and evolution that have allowed the world to be what it’s today. Thanks to advances in sciences, medicine has become much more efficient and accessible. For example, in an article of the Time, « My body, my laboratory », a wheeled doctor explained haw he managed to connect his wheelchair to his brain in order to control it. Robotics, science, technology and biology allow progress. Wonderful inventions are due to advances such as the internet or the development of robots like the japanese robot which look like a woman and which is able to reflect and make some move like humans.

But progress can be dangerous if not controlled or used for bad. In the film « Welcome to Gattaca », science and technology have led to a world without emotions, without values and whiteout freedom. Many debates arise about the progress of science as : « Should parents be able to choose their baby’s gender ? » from an article of the MailOnline. There may be some good reasons to accept, but an ethical problem arises and a larger question arises : Where are the limits of progress ?

To conclude, I’d say progress is neither all good or all bad. Put into the hands of human beings, that knowledge can be used for medicine or great advances. It’s not scientific knowledge that is either good or evil, but the application of it.

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