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What is Progress?
Defining Progress For Modern Times
by Tony Brasunas
You might have noticed: the United States of America is running the world
right now.
We're in charge. This very morning, you and I woke up as citizens
of an empire at the peak of its power. The actions and decisions we have
made since waking up, and the decisions we make as this day continues, will
determine the condition of this planet for the next few centuries.
Yes, it's an exciting, fascinating time to be alive and American. As
citizens of this democracy, you and I have more power to shape the Earth and
its future than common folk have ever had before. We have at our disposal
the resources to create a world of peace or a world of war, a world of fear
and self-destruction or a world of justice and harmony.
This situation won't last forever; a couple of decades or centuries pass and
history always moves on. The question is, will we Americans leave the world
a better place? A hundred years from now, in the year 2100, will humanity be
thankful that Americans were at the helm back in 2000? Will people look back
with respect and admiration, or with anger and shame?
It will depend of course on what we do now, on what path we follow. And the
path we follow will depend on what we envision, on what we call progress --
for we have the power to create what we envision.
So what do we call progress?
Many of us still find the Olympic motto -- "faster, higher, stronger" -- to
be enticing. And of course many of the miraculous gains of traditional
progress continue to bear fruit.
But scientists are wondering whether the Enlightenment hasn't reached its
logical conclusion: the rush to reduce reality to atoms and sub-atoms has
taken us from Newton's apple all the way to the threshold of replacing our
own species. "Gene therapy," cloning, and robotics threaten to end our
natural evolution and replace us with human hybrids. Our swift
transportation devices and complex industrial machines are rapidly ruining
our only real asset -- the earth. The path we are on, say experts from a
diversity of perspectives, will destroy us.
So let us re-examine our idea of progress. Whether we decide it's space
exploration or solar power, efficiency or liberation, inner personal growth
or outer collective betterment, now is the time to decide.
Then, with the tremendous American power and authority at our disposal, let
us move ahead with determination, joy, and curiosity.
Enjoy the conclusions nine diverse Americans have reached in defining
progress for modern times...
Table of Contents
Tony Brasunas is publisher of Garlic & Grass. Contact him at tony@garlicandgrass.org.
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