Progress needs to be defined. We are woefully deficient in this department. We have computers on the threshold of doing trillions of calculations but we have not asked them simple questions that could fathom the purpose of progress. But there is a starting point.
We can integrate the reality of elapsed time and the achievement of ethical benchmarks. We can literally note the exponential pace of today’s development with the demands it places on us all to adapt to the message of what is nastily referred to as globalism. We are actually entering the universal stage of everything.
Are there ethical benchmarks?
I have consistently argued that tolerance, helpfulness, and democracies are values or qualities that can be measured. There is no perfection in any branch of science. Certainly, our approach to measuring our own behavior is primitive. But consider the following propositions.
Tolerance
Tolerance has grown over time. The degrees of intolerance are not an argument against that growth but a recognition that there has been steady progress toward inclusion and the attainment of freedom and flexibility in life. There is no doubt that a university somewhere could fashion a detailed way to get this said so that people would listen and be convinced.
Do not be bemused by “climate change” rejoinders that demonstrate substantial opposition to the science on climate.
This has all the force of the anti-cigarette arguments of a few decades ago. Science ultimately defeats the arguments of those who benefit from things that harm.
Helpfulness
The two synonyms for helpfulness in the future will be education and enablement. These are the pillars of genuine help. It’s not just giving someone the information needed to achieve.
It is making the path to such achievement possible for anyone who wants to walk a particular road to success.
Education is already constantly measured and despite a good deal of smoke out there, we stride always in the direction of greater and greater capacity. There is more room for improvement than achievement thus far. We have barely scratched the surface.
How to Fulfill Your Dreams When the Magic-Wand Fairy is Late https://t.co/aJoxlJ6XMr
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) October 24, 2017
Enablement is simply a matter of achieving the political will to create the helping hands needed to ensure that work and creativity are available to all.
Democracy
Democracy can be measured already by being aware of its spread, despite headlines to the contrary. The majority of nations are democracies. Democracy is the wave of the future because it is the only reasonable means of achieving fairness.
When I speak of bringing on the progress, I am speaking of a giant choice that only individuals can make. Spelling this out will be the subject of the next article in the series.
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