When progress is just a reflection of human arrogance

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” In July 1969, just over 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong With these words he opened a new chapter in our history, the chapter with a capital letter H.

Over the centuries, it has taken all the courage, daring and daring of men and women to tame a new future, and to highlight their innovations to a new future. Yes The future has always been synonymous with happy opportunities and devastating fears at the same timeIt is worth, once again, to look in the direction we want to give it. But do we only have the possibility to influence this future?

Aristotle was the first to take into account emergency idea By invoking a naval battle: “Necessarily, there will be a naval battle tomorrow or there will not be; but it is not necessary that there should be a naval battle tomorrow, more than it is necessary for the absence of it.”

By putting forward the alternative in this way, Aristotle tells us that Nothing is set in stone and then give meaning to men’s freedom It is up to us to write our own history and to be active in it, with the rights and duties that this implies. If tomorrow is an indefinable and unpredictable mystery, Everyone can shape and influence them.

Another analogue of this thought can be embodied by Leibniz who equates chance with ignorance: if something seems unexpected to us, it is simply because we do not know its origin. in a Mastering the cause of everythingWe can be omniscient and make the best decisions at all times. In this vision of the world and its future, All that must be necessarily, as imposed by some kind of supernatural reason.

It is also a view shared by many philosophers of technology during XX^NS a contract. According to them, the emergence of technology, and its advancement, was necessary by the ascending force of the latter. In other words, Every technical progress is made simply because it is possibleRegardless of any social, democratic, environmental, ethical and human consideration.

If an entire workshop could be replaced by employing ten people with Infernal production line, then it must be done – or, more specifically, “then it will be done, necessarily”.

If human behavior can be encoded and reduced to accounts, there is no point in opposing it; Overwhelming technology, like Hegelian history, will find a ploy to achieve its ends.

If it’s possible space tourism, with the sole aim of showing the world that we can do it, without a doubt environmental awareness, then men will. And the rest of mankind, arrogantly sprinkled with their inexpressible candor, will have nothing but their tears, and their stories, to weep for.

So what is the freedom of citizens, the legitimacy of governments, when A handful of billionaires claim the right to mock the massive environmental effort ? The question of technological progress must be brought back to the center of the democratic debate, without wanting to fall into a Manichaean and anti-technological view, or to guide paralyzing fear.

Should all technical progress, whatever it may be, be judged necessarily? If there was nothing, there will never be anything Rein in the future Bezos and others? Does space tourism necessarily have to exist for the sole reason that it is possible? Leaving the answers to these questions to a wealthy, self-centered few seems reckless at best, and destructive at worst.

The economist Schumpeter wrote in 1942 that ” capitalism creates and destroys.” He could have said the same of Technique. On the one hand, hmm Idea generators, jobs and a certain improvement in living standards. On the other hand, they are destroying the Amazon rainforest, democracy and, at certain levels, a certain vision of living together.

Whether it’s in the recovery plan, in the NextGenEU or in the outbursts of solidarity that have moved our country in recent weeks, the time has come. creative part From the words of Schumpeter prevails over his “evil twin”.

“One small step for man, one big step for mankind.” Ironically, Bezos, Branson and their companions have appreciably customized this quote from the American astronaut. It is simply unfortunate that this “giant leap” is going in the wrong direction. that of arrogance from a man and disappointment progress.

Louis de Diesbach
Senior Manager chez Cream Consulting