Title: John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
Headings: John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
Content: They are numerous, but the central one must be that the human march of science and technology creates good for the world. Gray’s not as sure: He sees science and technology as magnifying humanity “warts and all”. Our tools allow us to go to the Moon but also murder each other with great alacrity. They have no morality attached to them. In science, the growth of knowledge is cumulative. But human life as a whole is not a cumulative activity; what is gained in one generation may be lost in the next. In science, knowledge is an unmixed god; in ethics and politics it is bad as well as good.