Is 'Progress' Good for Humanity?

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by Musika, Apr 29, 2018.

  1. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    I find it amusing that one does not need science as a source to debunk scripture.
    All you need is Scripture. It debunks itself.

    And that would be good progress for humanity.
     
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  3. Musika Last in Space Valued Senior Member

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    Your lack of familiarity with religion, philosophy and history (and we are just talking modern history here) is well documented on this site.

    All these tired themes you repeatedly spin have been done and dusted (by atheists and theists alike, I might add) in the first instances when you thought to introduce them.

    Pull my finger.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2019
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  5. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Pulling your nose.......

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
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  7. Capracus Valued Senior Member

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    The path to any goal is through the use of technology. Science , religion, and philosophy are all technologies that are employed with the intention of gaining a better understanding of reality in order to achieve specific ideals. While religion may have a goal of gaining a better understanding of reality, it does nothing in actuality to achieve it.
    Give a four legged mammal the opportunity to terraform an environment and they will gladly oblige.

    Everyone knows of goats’ mythical appetites — that’s why they’re killer for clearing brush and invasive weeds. But set them loose on an island, mating and eating everything in sight, and goats can become a high-level nuisance.

    https://modernfarmer.com/2013/09/killing-goats-galapagos/


    Unfortunately our two legged appetites for planetary resources are not just the stuff of myth.
     
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  8. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    It is on Easter Island. Several exponential growth factors in a limited space. Trouble is sure to follow.

    btw. over-consumption of natural resources is becoming a global issue.
    Releasing billions of years of sequestered oil and coal back into the atmosphere is beginning to make a dent in global climate regulation.

    If we have not solved the energy problem in 50 years we will experience a terrible shortage and competition for energy resources. In 50 years we'll be out of oil!

    No reduction, no saving, no recycling. We'll be out of oil, gone, empty tanks.
    http://www.worldometers.info/

    A gasoline car bought today will become useless before its expiration date.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2019
  9. candy Valued Senior Member

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    Progress is good until it turns you into a 'couch potato' then it is bad.
     
  10. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    That is a result of human pesticides, no?
     
  11. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    It just struck me that zero growth of the human race is emotionally possible by employing the services of domestic and sexual AI female companions which guarantee no procreation and leave family planning truly a choice between human spouses.

    Moreover, the AI come in kits which can be assembled and any interested Adam can create his own artificial Eve.

     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
  12. Speakpigeon Valued Senior Member

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    1,123
    That's right. Well put!
    EB
     
  13. Speakpigeon Valued Senior Member

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    Actually, most people take a pragmatic approach because their lives depend on the system as it is. There's no moral narrative. People just support what seems the best route for themselves.
    The moral narrative you're talking about is either the self-congratulating conversation of the privileged class or worse, straightforward propaganda from big business or it political personnel.
    EB
     
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  14. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    Progress in time must go on forever, while cultural progress can only go so far.
     
  15. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Judging by history, cultural progress lasts a few centuries before it begins to become corrupt and declines.
     
  16. Speakpigeon Valued Senior Member

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    Some slave owners freed a few slaves. Famous example, George Washington, in his will.
    Yet, it seems that the move in such not very many cases was usually motivated not on any moral principle but on the personal relationship with the salves freed.
    So, not necessarily always at gunpoint, but also probably not as a matter of principle either.
    And the then U.S. president, Lincoln, did it, definitely not with the individual slave masters' agreement, but the U.S. as a whole was itself, in effect, for all political and practical purposes, a slave master or the ultimate protector of the slave masters, and yet it did free all slaves of its own will.
    Or at least one Lincoln did it. Maybe it was only a matter a luck that he should become the president at this particular time.
    EB
     
  17. Speakpigeon Valued Senior Member

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    What's "cultural progress" outside human rights and democratic rights?
    Because if something else, then who is not biased to judge that it's at all progress?
    EB
     
  18. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    At all it can only progress so far whether it regresses or not
     
  19. pluto2 Banned Valued Senior Member

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    I think modern societies are headed into becoming dystopias instead of the utopias that many people have dreamed about.

    And you can't deny that Capitalism is inherently authoritarian.

    A perfect society will have no money relations, no exploitation, no police and no prisons and jails.
     
  20. Sancho Banned Banned

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    coming technological advancement might gut the human spirit. the advances in AI and robotics will most certainly usher in a new economy and replace the need to work.

    such a perfect society would require perfect citizens
     
  21. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Is "humanity" good for "Progress"?
     
  22. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    The US was not a whole, at the time.
    The US as a whole did not hold slaves, and did not free them.
    The slaves held by some were freed by others at gunpoint, and the slaveowners who refused to free their slaves were shot, their houses burned, their wealth destroyed.
    Slavery has been abolished in no other way.
    No.
     
  23. Holly-May Leslie Registered Member

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    I would say that technological advancement is a good thing overall. I mean, fossil fuels shouldn't be used but there are plenty of alternatives to them now like solar power and windmills and water mills and probably other things I don't know about. It seems to me that most technology is just about comfort and convenience, and those are definitely things to strive for. For instance, houses are very comfortable indeed. Far more so than caves or the street or the forest. For instance again, cushions are very comfy too. For instance yet a third time, food tastes really nice these days, and they can even make healthy food taste nice. Far nicer than what nature produces.
     

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