1. Renewing our Commitment to Progress
James J. Hughes Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Lecturer, Public Policy Studies , Trinity College
Conn College Tedx – April 14, 2012

2. Origins of Progress
Sketch for an Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit (1795)
Reason liberates us from church, kings, nature
Women’s suffrage and an end to slavery
Radical life extension
Freedom from work
"Nature has set no term to the perfection of human faculties; the perfectibility of man is truly indefinite.”
Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet

3. Moral and Political Progress
Linear progression of history towards more freedom, equality and justice
Freedom House Democracy Index 2011
Copyright Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2005

4. Economic Progress Better health and longer life Higher quality of life
More wealth and leisure, more equally shared
Copyright Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2005

5. Scientific Progress Growth of reason and knowledge
Scientific and technological progress works complementarily with social progress
Social ills are the result of ignorance not sin

6. Reaction to Progress Counter-Enlightenment Counterculture & Ecology
Religious reaction
Rejection of totalitarian utopianism
Counterculture & Ecology
Post-modernism
Disillusionment, rising expectations

7. Problems with Moral Progress
Progress as rationale for imperialism
Reason erodes moral certainty
Copyright Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2005

8. Problems with Scientific Progress
Scientific uncertainty, biases, abuses
Not TRUTH, just better hypotheses
Scientists reflect social biases (eugenics, medicine)
Science can be used to oppress as well as liberate

9. Progress Could Stop Completely
Civilization has become very complex
Natural and man-made catastrophes could end human civilization

10. No Inevitability
As in biology, nothing is inevitable in the evolution of ideas and institutions
Lack of inevitability is precisely why we need a conscious commitment to a chastened idea of progress
Progress as Great Work

11. Evidence of Progress There has been social and political progress
Pinker: Decline of violence, torture, slavery
Gay oppression to gay marriage in 40 years
Sam Harris’ The Moral Landscape: We all accept basic goals

12. Scientific Progress Imperfect, but Directional
Problems of scientific bias solved by more science, not less
Dangers of anti-science skepticism

13. Renewing the Progress Project
Expanding Rights, Equality, Democracy
Freedom from the gender binary
More perfect forms of democratic self- governance
Rights for non-human persons

14. Beyond War, Death and Toil
End War
John Horgan
Global security
Make Death Optional
Anti-aging medicine
Longevity Dividend
Beyond Toil for Wages
Automation
Basic income guarantee