Title: John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
Headings: John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
John Gray: Is Human Progress an Illusion?
Content: There have always been tyrannies; but without modern means of transport and communication, Stalin and Mao could not have built their gulags. Humanity’s worst crimes were made possible only by modern technology. There is a deeper reason why “humanity” will never control technology. Technology is not something that humankind can control. It as an event that has befallen the world. Once a technology enters human life — whether it be fire, the wheel, the automobile, radio, television, or the internet — it changes it in ways we can never fully understand. […]
Nothing is more commonplace than to lament that moral progress has failed to keep pace with scientific knowledge. If only we were more intelligent and more moral, we could use technology only for benign ends. The fault is not in our tools, we say, but in ourselves.