Do you remember progress ? It was the dream, the ability to improve Humanity
Words I wrote almost 20 years ago…
January 23, 2005
Do you remember progress?
It was beautiful, progress.
I remember when everyone was talking about it.
Progress was the dream.
It was the ability to improve the world and therefore humanity.
There were discussions about what would produce such men and women, but one thing was certain : people had to improve.
They had to be made more beautiful, more kind, more lovable, more sociable.
There was even talk of the day when science would free us from the bondage of labour.
Oh, what a wonderful day : we would stop working and devote ourselves to “higher intellectual activities”.
Look what remains of this idea today : if science frees us from work, we remain unemployed.
There was even talk of a time when science would liberate us from the bondage of labor…
And if we were asked what activities we could do if we were unemployed and had the means to pay for them, we would not know how to answer.
Dream.
If they gave you a life pension tomorrow and you no longer had to work, what would you do ?
We don’t even know what non-work activities are anymore !
Art ?
Art is called communication, it is a business, it is a job.
No one would pay attention to a person who didn’t work hard to produce on time.
Literature ?
It is called publishing, it is an “industry”.
Writers have a job and a contract.
What would you do if science took away your job ?
Keep working ?
Could you still do it ?
If you are over 30 and your friends are not just your work colleagues, or if you can be with one person for an entire day without talking about work, you are lying.
The truth is that your small group of friends greets all “newcomers” with hostility, or at least coldness.
And if you spent your life cultivating the company of your fellows, you would get little satisfaction from it.
However, we are all doing better than we did 100 years ago, so hooray for progress !
But what progress ?
The truth is that today’s science is only concerned with producing fun and functional trinkets for industrial production.
We no longer have a dream of progress that frees us from work.
We no longer dream of progress in general.
We have no desire to be better, more lovable, kinder, more sociable.
We only ask to be safe in houses that look like fortresses, protected by alarms, security doors and police.
To eat, work and enjoy our mass-produced gadgets marked “exclusive and personalized model”.
To drive cars that look like armored cars.
Talk to the advocates of science.
It’s the end of progress, don’t dream of progress.
Talk to the advocates of science.
They think what they say is truth.
But ask them why.
Do you know what they answer ?
That science tells the truth, and the proof is the fact that technology works !
Not that they have improved man, or made him more lovable, or more sociable, or more beautiful.
No, they just have to make your Playstation work to feel on God’s side.
Therefore, at this moment in history, it would be the task of religion to produce better men and women.
To produce progress.
The world of religion is the only world that still dreams (at least in theory) of a better man in a better world.
Science is only concerned with new products, technologies and markets ; it has forgotten progress and has lost its original role of supporting the dream of a better humanity.
The scientist no longer works for a better humanity, but for a company.
The only ones who could still work to produce a better man are the priests of the various religions, who still consider that the center of gravity of the human being has shifted to the invisible dimension and who somehow try to teach people to be better (though unfortunately in their own way).
We can talk about the recipes.
But not about the dream, which is now shared by only a few.
