The nobleness & the use of progress in any field, to an individual, or to the society on the whole,
7 K4 D& h" r! y" z% @) R# Owill depend on what use the progress is being put to, and I feel, cannot be generalized as stated ! Y9 g1 G v& G# z' Z! c1 G* z
above. $ X9 g, O0 R3 H0 h. t( G) U8 f a6 M
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Progress has been inherent with the human race. As the human brain developed, so has progress
k# H8 c" m) Rbeen achieved, in almost all fields known to man. The cultural progress over the ages, have made ) W' y6 H9 N4 Q5 Q
humans better and made this world, a better place to live in. Similarly, scientific progress has been ; A7 A$ f7 t. d- A2 |2 h0 I
effective in eradicating diseases, providing better food crops, facilitating transportation etc.
) G" y0 H ~ }4 n+ j+ _7 VLiterary progress has helped us better document our history and has produced works that have
J0 ^/ a3 x+ B# S9 f1 Jmade us think. Progress in communication techniques have converged this whole world of ours,
9 I1 [* c: L- _; ~ ~into the ’global village’. + f. p' b0 x) X- m! T) ~% o
! s; N3 u) M. L$ t% tIf we look at the above examples, we see that they are all aimed at the betterment of our world. Here progress is being applied for the society’s good.
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8 l6 Z1 T+ K+ d3 R- ]- T! P; {The products from the same progress in the various fields, when in wrong hands, wreak havoc in the same society that they are supposed to make better. & J3 @2 L* ]# Q) }9 k! l
- p6 O% @0 n5 _* P+ }. ]Sophisticated arms & explosives in the hands of terrorists & children, science of human cloning in the hands of scientists, crop control technologies in the hands of corporations etc., are some of the examples of how progress can go wrong. Think of how much better the world would be, without : N- R7 }4 y5 P+ a( `/ e( w
nuclear and biological weapons, without mutated food grains et al. Think of how many people : Q& @8 @& K" I
would not have died or maimed for life, if there had been no land mines ? After witnessing the
5 ?: v" G; v3 V1 Tdestructive use the Dynamite could be put to, Alfred Nobel himself repented his own creation of ?4 Z1 [% ?. i$ M
Dynamite so much that he set up the Nobel prize, to be awarded to people who work for the 6 C. n4 g* |; V2 d$ v% ~
betterment of the human society. ) m6 B! }( s" t6 X, D+ Z3 z' b
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Therefore, it is my strong contention that progress is only good when it is put to the right use, for the betterment and upliftment of the individual and the society, on a whole. Progress put to any ulterior uses should be outrightly condemned. |