Progress is a funny thing. When I played golf competitively I would often come home from a day of practice feeling like I had a breakthrough. Monday at the golf course would leave me feeling like I was really on to something, only for Tuesday to bring me back to earth. On Monday I would feel like I was really making progress, on Tuesday I would feel like the previous 2 years of practice were worthless. Of course I was much better at golf with 12 years experience than 6, but it did not always feel like I was moving forward.
Progress is tough to measure. In golf the scores are pretty telling, but how does a parent measure progress? How does a preacher measure progress? How does a counselor measure progress? Each of these endeavors--parenting, preaching, counseling--have very human objectives; human objectives are tough to measure. How do you measure a child's maturity? How do you measure emotional and spiritual health? Only the most data-driven parent would try to graph his child's maturity.
Harder still, how do we measure the progress of society? I guess we could quantify and compare war casualities, infant mortality rates, and life expectancy--this is what economists and sociologists tend to do--but even if these numbers get better are we truly progressing?
There is one element of human progress that is indisputable--technological progress. We are definitely getting better at understanding nature and then engineering it for our purposes. We can attribute infant mortality declines and life expectancy increases to this technological progress. There is no question that we are better at putting satellites in space now than we were in 1492, but does that mean we are necessarily progressing?
I guess it depends on what we value as humans. If we value flying across oceans, building skyscrapers, and holding video phone calls, we are definitely getting better. However, if we value things such as love, loyalty, and perseverance more than we value technology, it becomes harder to measure whether we are improving.
Pessimists about human progress would possibly point to the 20th century to make their case. These pessimists could talk about the world wars, civil wars, and genocides that happened in the same century that we were learning to land on the moon and send emails. These folks would say, "Sure you have your toys, but do you have your morals?", and they would have a point.
Optimists about human progress would point to the atrocities of the 20th century and possibly explain them away as growing pains. "The night is darkest just before the dawn", they may say. They would also point to the diseases we have cured, the malnutrition we have prevented, and the air conditioning that many of us now live in, and they would have a point.
I believe both sides have a point. I believe it is true that our technological society has a potential for divorcing us from the simple satisfactions of life. I believe it is true that greater tools also lead to greater weapons. I believe the internet brings people together, make things more efficient, and people more innovative, but I also believe our morality must progress with our tools and systems.
The greater the tool and the greater the system, the greater the potential catastrophe. Hate has a much greater impact if the hate filled person has chemical weapons. Selfishness is a much bigger problem if the selfish person happens to control a $1 trillion budget. I am not going to reminisce about the good ole' days--partly because I have not been around for all that many--but I do insist that our moral progress must be as great as our technological progress or we will not be progressing at all. I'd rather have community than a faster computer. I'd rather have peace than more efficient air travel.
The technological progress must go forward. There are many more cool things for us to invent and I'd rather the guys with morals develop the weapons. But we must not leave morality behind in the quest for progress. Just because we will have a more handy smartphone in 2020 does not mean that humanity will be doing better at loving its neighbor. Developing a smartphone relies on science and engineering in the here and now. Living morally relies on living according to ancient truths. People have been wrestling with how to love and be patient for millennia, and God has revealed Himself in history. We can't get so caught up in making new tools today that we forget about the truths that were revealed yesterday. We should read ancient texts along with our new studies. The laws that governed 332 BC also govern 2013 AD Sure, we are better at navigating the physical laws today, but we must not forget that there a moral laws as well.
Progress is tough to measure. In golf the scores are pretty telling, but how does a parent measure progress? How does a preacher measure progress? How does a counselor measure progress? Each of these endeavors--parenting, preaching, counseling--have very human objectives; human objectives are tough to measure. How do you measure a child's maturity? How do you measure emotional and spiritual health? Only the most data-driven parent would try to graph his child's maturity.
Harder still, how do we measure the progress of society? I guess we could quantify and compare war casualities, infant mortality rates, and life expectancy--this is what economists and sociologists tend to do--but even if these numbers get better are we truly progressing?
There is one element of human progress that is indisputable--technological progress. We are definitely getting better at understanding nature and then engineering it for our purposes. We can attribute infant mortality declines and life expectancy increases to this technological progress. There is no question that we are better at putting satellites in space now than we were in 1492, but does that mean we are necessarily progressing?
I guess it depends on what we value as humans. If we value flying across oceans, building skyscrapers, and holding video phone calls, we are definitely getting better. However, if we value things such as love, loyalty, and perseverance more than we value technology, it becomes harder to measure whether we are improving.
Pessimists about human progress would possibly point to the 20th century to make their case. These pessimists could talk about the world wars, civil wars, and genocides that happened in the same century that we were learning to land on the moon and send emails. These folks would say, "Sure you have your toys, but do you have your morals?", and they would have a point.
Optimists about human progress would point to the atrocities of the 20th century and possibly explain them away as growing pains. "The night is darkest just before the dawn", they may say. They would also point to the diseases we have cured, the malnutrition we have prevented, and the air conditioning that many of us now live in, and they would have a point.
I believe both sides have a point. I believe it is true that our technological society has a potential for divorcing us from the simple satisfactions of life. I believe it is true that greater tools also lead to greater weapons. I believe the internet brings people together, make things more efficient, and people more innovative, but I also believe our morality must progress with our tools and systems.
The greater the tool and the greater the system, the greater the potential catastrophe. Hate has a much greater impact if the hate filled person has chemical weapons. Selfishness is a much bigger problem if the selfish person happens to control a $1 trillion budget. I am not going to reminisce about the good ole' days--partly because I have not been around for all that many--but I do insist that our moral progress must be as great as our technological progress or we will not be progressing at all. I'd rather have community than a faster computer. I'd rather have peace than more efficient air travel.
The technological progress must go forward. There are many more cool things for us to invent and I'd rather the guys with morals develop the weapons. But we must not leave morality behind in the quest for progress. Just because we will have a more handy smartphone in 2020 does not mean that humanity will be doing better at loving its neighbor. Developing a smartphone relies on science and engineering in the here and now. Living morally relies on living according to ancient truths. People have been wrestling with how to love and be patient for millennia, and God has revealed Himself in history. We can't get so caught up in making new tools today that we forget about the truths that were revealed yesterday. We should read ancient texts along with our new studies. The laws that governed 332 BC also govern 2013 AD Sure, we are better at navigating the physical laws today, but we must not forget that there a moral laws as well.
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