Challenge of ProgressPentti MalaskaProf., DTech. "No single idea has been as important as the idea of progress in Western civilization for nearly three thousand years" asserts Rober Nisbet in his seminal work History of the Idea of Progress.1 I start with Aurelio Peccei's words: "I consider the Club of Rome first of all an exciting adventure of the spirit - the exploration and discovery of man's condition in this age of his global empire. At a time of ever-expanding knowledge, when we know incredibly much about so many things, we know incredibly little about our own changed condition. If the Club of Rome may be credited with any merit, it is to have been the first to rebel against this well nigh suicidal ignorance. It is not, however, impossible to pursue the human revolution capable to change this course."2 These words are still pertinent to our mission of human progress. Belief in progress holds, as Robert Nisbet puts it in his seminal work History of the Idea of Progress3 that humankind has advanced, is now advancing, and will advance through the foreseeable future, i.e. is changing from inferior to more superior in some essential sense. From the Greeks down to the present, the passage from inferior to superior has substantially meant or believed to mean three things. First, it means gradual and cumulative improvement of knowledge embodied in science and technology or in practical arts designed for coping with problems presented by Nature. Improvement of knowledge and advancement of technology is taken to mean progress. Secondly the idea of progress centers upon spiritual conditions of human beings, our happiness, upon emancipation from external authorities, and upon human moral conduct. Progress holds advancement to ever-greater moral perfection of human nature. Thirdly, we can add one more dimension, i.e. solidarity of contribution of human beings when living with one another in groups. A state of solidarity is one, in which those who have care for those who have not and who care for improving conditions of common contribution Conflict of VisionsThe three characteristics of progress have, however, never been equally held among humankind, but conflicts of visions and interests have been built around them and manifested in real life, as history so well demonstrates. As exemplified for instance by historian A.J. Toynbee in his A Study of History4, some regard, that scientific knowledge and technology are the very hindrance to perfection of moral qualities. He argues, 'that so close is the correlation between technological advancement and moral decline that the appearance of the former may be used as the ground of accurate forecasting of the latter'. At the other extreme it is held, that technology is everything that matters, and that there is no need for any spiritual or moral conduct. It is not either difficult to observe, that conflicts of visions are present also in the current debate on globalization and privatization contra human-divide, and environmental threats. In the Club-of-Rome sense we have to respect human ethical faculties for setting priorities, creating visions, and defining endeavors of development, but also that we regard science and technology as sine qua non as a means for realizing the visions in the best possible ways, and that solidarity is something constituting a society. One cannot reduce ethics and solidarity to scientific knowledge and technology nor can one abandon knowledge or technology advancement from progress. The Club-of-Rome thinking relies on Botkin's and Malitza's No Limits to Learning5 principle. In Finnish society, the public library system has long traditions. The public libraries are open for everybody and offer services free of charge. Libraries are a cornerstone of our democratic society and at the same time its guarantee. The libraries have an extensive mission: to satisfy the information needs of citizens, from ordinary people to researchers, and to ensure that every citizen has access to information networks and services via the net. The widespread use of libraries has also been mentioned as one of the underlying causes for the good results Finland achieved in the PISA review conducted by the OECD in 2002. The Finnish 15-year-olds scored well in this international comparison of reading, mathematics and science literacy. Human-divideScientific and technological advancement and economic globalization opens possibilities for a post-modern progress of humankind. One cannot, however, avoid noticing that a growing number of people are deliberately or systemically left outside progress promised by technology and economic growth, or simply their contribution to common welfare is neglected. A human-divide of progress is at stake. Who are the people left outside, and what are the moral grounds for ignorance? The human-divide leads to conflicts threatening peaceful coexistence of cultures, and supporting corruption, and to lack of democracy, and it violates human rights. These facts well demonstrate that progress, if aimed at, necessarily means something else, something more than just information and technology development. An unhealthy moral state feeds on itself with no concern for others until it becomes unsustainable itself. A healthy moral state creates a desire to cooperate with others rather than to simply compete, and it strengthens the social contract to make progress sustainable. Environmental problematiqueThere is yet another deprivation of progress, we are too well aware about, i.e. depletion of nature, global environmental deterioration and mega risks of the nuclear-, bio- and nanotechnology. A growing concern is related to technology driven issues of the relation in human and Nature. Ethical conflicts between people cannot be avoided, as demonstrated for instance by decisions on building more nuclear power versus renewable energy, or by disagreements on the climate protocol. Since the most influential report of The Limits to Growth6, the Club of Rome has called public attention to the environment dilemma with many reports7. Development for the better has taken place and is pursued by governments, corporations, and citizens. But a kind of counteract against sound reason and ethics has showed up as well. People are persuaded to believe, that the environmental problems are only illusions of ignorant scientists, or that environmental hazards will vanish automatically with more economic growth, without any deliberate rational intervention or without change of priorities. Surely, the Club-of-Rome concern runs quite the opposite, on good scientific and ethical grounds. New conceptual innovations of environmental studies, just to mention rebound effects of growth, sustainable economic growth rate, or welfare productivity of GDP, offer more solid grounds to understand environmental problems in relation to economic policies and welfare creation than before8. "Play it again, Sam!"9Progress is not inevitable; humankind is not "doomed" to advance. Neither is progress an impossible mission, but something we may deliberately get to unfold. Modern vision of progress, in the techno-scientific as well as moral and solidarity sense, was laid down in the Enlightenment Period. We, i.e. the generations of modernity of the past five centuries or so, have accomplished this vision, at least partially and fragmentally. Its grand ethos has been emancipation of people from the external authorities of true knowledge and moral conduct10. But with the advancement progress has become chained to the past modernity as Prometheus to a mountain cliff11. The future needs a new ethos of positive freedom, emancipation to something ethically invaluable instead of emancipation just from something as in modernity. We need a substantive new purpose and goals of progress for which to apply vast human potentiality. What are the challenging issues -chaining the progress - preventing much desired human advance and the First Global Revolution12? We will hear more about them from our speakers and the discussion to follow. References
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