Plantagenet wrote:OutcastPhilosopher wrote:Progress is a HOAX....
You can have your jet planes that fall out of the sky....
You can have your cell phones that cause cancer and sterilize you....
You can have your electric cars that spontaneously combust....
Yo Mr. OutcastPhilosopher
Would you be so kind as to expand on your idea?
Do you think that all progress is a hoax......or just certain parts of progress while other aspects of progress are useful and improve our lives.
For instance, presumably you are using a computer and the internet to make posts at this site......so are computers and the internet an example of "good" progress.
Please explain your viewpoint a bit more.
Is all of progress a hoax....or just certain parts of progress?THANKS!
Sure.
First, there is no person that can ever state what we are "progressing towards"......what is progress? The ability to type messages on a message board to strangers? High speed planes that can travel overseas? The ability for women to work a job? Rights for homosexuals? Technological Progress? Social Progress?
Many believe that we are technologically progressing with computers and other gadgets. I would agree that it is a technological advancement. Your claim of "good" progress versus what I guess you would claim "bad" progress is rather narrow and limiting for instance, no one weighs the cost of technological advancement versus human freedoms or a myriad of other human conditions.
Lets take the example of the automobile. Prior to the automobile, man could travel as he pleased by walking. During this time period, there were no laws or if there were any they were minor so that a man walking would go where he pleased at any rate he wished and walk on any unoccupied piece of land. He would have had total control of his travel except for any outside forces other than himself. Imagine if you are walking and walk into another person, would you die? Surely not. You would be in control of your destiny.
With the introduction of the automobile that changed. Now man is no longer is able to walk wherever he pleases. With the introduction of the automobile in order to travel, man was forced to adapt to it because of technological advancement. This is a case of technology enforcing its will on man, not man enforcing its will on technology. Now when utilizing an automobile, man is subject to many laws and there are specific areas that he has to drive his vehicle on (roads,highways,etc.). This doesn't even go into the licenses and other such items that a man has to acquire to operate such a vehicle. Furthermore, man is no longer solely in control of his destiny in an automobile because he is utilizing an object that is subject to outside forces that he cannot control. The automobile can break down or become damaged, which would cause the man to either spend money for a new automobile or for repairs. Other automobiles controlled by other persons can crash into him and kill him. In 2019, there were 38,800 people who died in car accidents in the US.
In effect introducing more technology causes man to lose more control over his life.
In regards to technology, we are not progressing in any way towards being a more "free" society. We are actually becoming a less "free" society due to technological advancements. The more technologically advanced society becomes, the less freedoms that the individuals who live in that society will have. Technology requires conditions to be imposed on humanity in order for technology to function. It is a misnomer that man enforces conditions upon technology en masse, the opposite is the case.
Lets take a look at "medical progress" versus human freedoms and medical treatments.
Prior to medical treatments and vaccinations, what were the options given to man? Man had the option of self medication through herbal remedies such as naturopathy and homeopathy. There were local doctors who had a very cursory understanding of medications and treatments that could treat someone. Obviously from historical records life expectancy and health standards were varied. Aside from that, man was mostly in control of his own health and could utilize very basic medicines and herbal treatments. There wasn't any kind of forced or recommended health treatments.
Now with "advanced medical treatments" like vaccinations, surgeries, chemotherapies, etc. there are a wide range of treatments for various ailments that one may fall ill with. There are also a wider range of diagnosing capabilities that the medical system has with radiography. Obviously modern man has a much wider variety of diagnoses and treatments to choose from. Now what about quality of treatments? Most wouldn't know this but medical error in the United States is the third leading cause of death
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/me ... _in_the_usAre we really making medical progress when nearly 250,000 people die due to the medical system every year?
Currently, in order to work in hospitals and other health treatment centers, employees are forced to take vaccinations such as the flu shot and now it looks like the COVID-19 vaccination. So again, as we supposedly advance, people are losing their freedoms and are forced to take vaccinations. This doesn't even cover the possibility of becoming injured due to vaccines. The US government was forced to create a national vaccine injury compensation fund due to injuries from vaccines, unfortunately pharmaceutical companies are exempt from liability due to legislation passed in the 1980s.
https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/index.htmlThe question of progress is a question of what do you value? Do you value freedom? Do you value technology? etc.
As I stated earlier, technology is imposing conditions on man and taking away freedom. There are other human conditions that you can examine in this lens against the various cases of "progress".