Anticipation à partir du mot : « Progress »
A)What is progress ? What does Progress mean ?
Progress, basically, is improvement. Usually the word is used in reference to either scientific advances or the modernization of society, but it can also refer to improvements in quality of life and understanding.
B.How to measure Progress ?
1)The Evolution of Human Thought
The evolution of human thought over time is viewed as fueling (contributing) overall improvements of the human condition. For example, the development and proliferation of the idea of universal human rights over past few centuries. can be described as contributing to the overall advancement of humanity. Similarly, the development of free market and democratic principles can be viewed as leading to the widespread political and economic empowerment of the masses.
2)Technological Innovation
Improvements in technology over time can also be viewed as contributing to the advancement of humankind throughout history.
For instance, early innovations in agriculture provided populations with ample food and more free time for developing new trades and ways of life.
More recently, rapid advancements in technology since the start of the Industrial Revolution are widely understood to have led to marked improvements in average income, education, health and life expectancy, particularly in the developed world.
3)Specific problems
Many measurements of progress focus on specific problems. For instance, it is possible to measure progress in the fight against poverty by measuring changes in income over time.
Similarly, it is possible to measure progress in the effort to combat AIDs by taking note of advances in the medical field.
Other approaches take a broader view to defining progress, focusing on the advancement of humankind over all of history, specific time periods, or within certain groups or communities. For example, the empowerment of women and minority groups, particularly African Americans, is often pointed to as signs of progress in American society.
C.Differing Views or concepts of Progress
Views about progress vary markedly among groups with different beliefs. For instance, communist thought defined progress as the inevitable shifting of power over society from a small group of elites to the working class.
Many communist thinkers believed progress could only be achieved through violent revolution.
On the other hand, capitalist thought would define progress as the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship between workers and entrepreneurs, with each receiving just compensation for contributing their time and labor.
Muslim extremists strongly disagree with those who see economic globalization as contributing to progress by proliferating the economic models and culture of Western world.
Conclusion
Technological power gives us power over nature but what is crucial is what we make of it.
