What Is Progress?

The notion of progress is relative to different cultures and societies. The first thing we may need to examine is what progress means in the context of a global community. Cultures and value systems vary from country to country, continent to continent, and even within countries.

In his research of the Amish population, Wetmore (2007) asserted that Amish do not necessarily hold any apathy towards technology but their reluctance to embrace technology stems from the hereditary need to preserve their own culture and identity. To do so, they adapt and configure technologies that best fit their needs, means of operation, and serve the same purposes that the non-Amish, meaning we, benefit from. There’s absolutely nothing wrong that. In fact, their determination, perseverance, and dedication to retain their heritage are enviable. The quality and preservation of life is of utmost important to Amish.

This cultural belief of the Amish echoes what our Founding Fathers believed about the progress of technology. According to Marx (1993) Thomas Jefferson was reluctant to bring in industrial technology in this relatively new country to preserve its quality of life. He was an ardent believer of the advancement of technology. Yet, he thought the industrial import in the U.S. “would be too high a price to pay for any potential improvement in the American material standard of living” (p. 6).

We discover similar attitude among the 19th century Luddites (Winner 1997) who vigorously opposed advanced looming technology in favor of the traditional technology. But their action stemmed from the idea of preserving their own culture and identity. They did not have anything against technology per se. They were not “fear of change” (Wikipedia). Further, the technology conflict of the Luddites did not start with the invention of the technology. It was a social movement to preserve the displaced workers. I’d argue that, technology was not responsible for their uprising. The society simply could not cope with the new invention.

So, what have we found about the idea of progress from the ideology of these three groups? The common thread that binds these groups is the preservation of identity. I’d argue that this very notion of preserving identities is the essence of progress for the Amish, the Luddites, and our Founding Fathers.

Progress is also driven by the economy and democracy. Let’s discuss the advancement of cell phone technology in the context of economic prosperity and democracy. The culture of cell phone using in the U.S. is based on video graphics, music, picture-taking capabilities and such. The technology targets to meet the esoteric needs of a relatively young generation and the idea of The Enlightenment (Marx 1993) through the progress of technology in the U.S., I’d argue, means achieving a status of “blending in” and maintaining a social hierarchy among peers, a trend that supports the western individualism.

By contrast, according to The Economist (Sept. 26 – Oct. 2, 2009), developing countries in Asia and Africa are using modern cell phone technology to strengthen and raise the economic productivity. The cell phone is a necessity not a luxury in Asia and Africa. The modern technology has also made it possible for the cell phone to become cheaper and available to more people. In 1997, a cell phone in Bangladesh cost $200. Today, one can get a cell phone with added services for under $20. With the proliferation of cell phone technology along with other social initiatives like micro lending, the women in rural Bangladesh now can own her own cell phone business. The trend has empowered and educated women in Bangladesh. They have become the “Telephone ladies” (p. 6).

In Ethiopia, fishermen now can call ahead and find out where the buyers are while they are at sea, fishing. The phone calls prevent waste of the fish stock because they know the exact location of the buyers.

The self-empowerment and economic prosperity provide people with wealth, knowledge, and new cognitive beliefs, which are essential in empowering people to bring about and restore democratic idealism and democracy.

So, I conclude that progress has different meanings in different cultures. In addition, progress is constantly evolving, defining, and shaping humankind. And therein lays the true value of the progress.