The essay “Is
Progress Real” is written by William Durant. He believes that there is some tincture of evil with good in our
progress in Science and technique. We
invent many things which give comforts to us.
But we utilize them to facilitate crimes and kill others. Modern people
failed to utilize the comforts and conveniences in a meaningful way.
Modern men found different
procedures in modern medicine which are helpful for the cures and incisions for
different diseases. We applaud their
effort if they bring no side effects worse than the disease. We are grateful for the added years that
medical science gives us if they are not burdensome
prolongations of illness, disability and gloom. Now we have developed to report the events of
the day and planet but we envy our ancestors’ peace.
We are unable to leave the
instincts of pugnacity and degrading our
civilization into greed, crime and promiscuity. To avoid these, there should be moral and
ethical development among the people. We
should not demand progress to be continuous.
Obviously there are retrogressions just as there are periods of failure,
fatigue and rest in a developing individual. We have to accept all these stages. In the ancient days, there was high rate of infantile mortality. But now we are successful to prolong our life
span. Our progress in science has helped
us to grow enough food and send hundreds of bushels of wheat to nations in
need.
Some precious achievements like
making of fire, wheel and other basic
tools, language, art, agriculture, family and parental care, social
organization and use of teaching to transmit the lore of the family and the
race are some of the elements of civilization and they are maintained through
the passage from one civilization to the next.
Durant realizes the invaluable advantages of the spread of higher
education. If education is the transmission of civilization, we will be
progressing. For that every child should
have education till at least his
twentieth year and there should be free
access to the universities, libraries and museums that gives information about
ancient heritage and culture. This
knowledge helps for the enlargement of
man’s understanding, control over environment, embellishment, and enjoyment of
life.
