Topics Value

Question In our society, any modern way of making one's daily life easier is considered an advance. I am only fifteen, so I might not fully understand the importance of technology in our lives yet, but my question stands: If these advances ultimately have a consequence (an example being television, which may provide temporary distraction and entertainment, but in reality just distracts us from doing something more constructive), is it really an advance at all? My mind is in conflict because many of the examples I think of often have many pros as well as many cons. Is that the nature of advancement: with every move forward there is a risk of developing problems? ~Juliet

Accepted:
August 25, 2008

Comments

Very few things, if any at all, have value in an absolute sense.That is, not value for this or that purpose, or in this or thatcontext, but for any purpose or context. Some of the very fewcandidates that are sometimes suggested are the morally good, thejust, or the beautiful. A technological advancement, on the otherhand, would definitely be of value only for certain purposes/contexts and not in others. That's only to be expected.

So, we use the term 'advancement' in at least two senses.First, in a very narrow sense to designate the ability to dosomething that wasn't previously possible. Second, in a broader sensein which a particular new ability has value in at least some purposesor contexts and that the inevitable areas in which there aredrawbacks are either not yet known or considered a small price topay. (When you mention the term 'risk', I take it that you arereferring to drawbacks that are not yet known, and which may make uschange our mind about whether something is an 'advancement'.)