Progress

I’ve always had a deep mistrust of technology. No. Wait. Rephrase that. I’ve always had a deep mistrust of human nature.

When I was a kid, Daniel Callahan and Willard Gaylin started the Hastings Institute in the town where I grew up and went to school, Hastings-on-Hudson. I didn’t know too much about it then, but my social studies teacher mentioned it as a place that was either inventing or popularizing the field of bio ethics. It was the first time I’d heard of someone looking at the ethical issues of research in Science.

Some rather unimaginative people have called me a “Luddite.”  I do have an aesthetic distaste for machines, but I recognize their value. Look around my house. I have many machines or products of machines: a coffee maker, heat, light, running water. I’m writing this essay on a laptop. I cherish the conversations I have on “WhatsApp” with my son who is in Mumbai and through my iPhone’s texting capacity with my daughter.

I like charts. Here’s one that maybe says what I mean better than regular prose.

Technology	Good	Bad
the A bomb and H bomb	?	death and destruction
a gun	for hunting, defense of one’s person and property	death and destruction of other humans, animals
complicated surgeries	saving and extending a life	extending a life — not always good; raising the expense and expectations of health care
Facebook	facilitating contact with old friends, facilitating new friendships, conveying information	dissemination of false information; facilitating hate
Twitter — see Facebook
Factory	maker of goods	polluter

We are so smart and innovative, aren’t we? Look what we can do because of our ingenuity. We can fly. 

We are so good and kind, aren’t we?

Whoops.

Consider evolution — we have evolved from a primal state to a very complex one. We think about, plan, invest in, invent, and improve technology. Where is the comparable effort in terms of improving our character, our morality, our ethics? 

Why don’t we care more about wisdom? 

The ugly encounter between Covington students and others shows how unwise many of the participants were and how unwise so many of us were. We commented before knowing the whole story. We vilified and glorified without knowing what happened. Because we watched a two minute video.

I was a high school teacher for many years. We gave lip service to caring about kindness and honesty. The real rewards — grades, esteem —- went to academic and athletic accomplishments. A pat on the  back might go to the kid who made a point to invite a loner to his lunch table. The captain of the basketball team might get a scholarship to a good college. 

If we really cared about character, we would have elected Jimmy Carter to a second term. He cared more about human rights than the economy — and we call that bad leadership. If we really cared about integrity, we’d have a secretary of ethics or something — a cabinet position that mattered. We’d have a secretary of communication who, with a committee, would sort out the issues of bots and trolling and flaming on social media.

Newsprints would print the obituaries of the ordinary guy who loved his wife and children and helped his neighbors.

Absence of conflict wouldn’t have to be boring. TV shows and movies could show really creative ways of diffusing violence and creating harmony.

Our money and our interest goes to the drama of violence and cruelty. 

Just imagine if we put the same kind of money and interest into finding out how to collaborate with “them,” how to teach our children to be humble and respectful, how to control rage, how to create safe places.

The U.S. was founded by men who cared about people’s rights. They failed to create an equally important document about responsibilities.  Someone really smart needs to figure out how we can cling to our right to free speech or to bear arms without making the world a worse place. That would be progress.