I find it amusing that one does not need science as a source to debunk scripture. All you need is Scripture. It debunks itself. And that would be good progress for humanity.
Your lack of familiarity with religion, philosophy and history (and we are just talking modern history here) is well documented on this site. All these tired themes you repeatedly spin have been done and dusted (by atheists and theists alike, I might add) in the first instances when you thought to introduce them. Pull my finger.
The path to any goal is through the use of technology. Science , religion, and philosophy are all technologies that are employed with the intention of gaining a better understanding of reality in order to achieve specific ideals. While religion may have a goal of gaining a better understanding of reality, it does nothing in actuality to achieve it. Give a four legged mammal the opportunity to terraform an environment and they will gladly oblige. Everyone knows of goats’ mythical appetites — that’s why they’re killer for clearing brush and invasive weeds. But set them loose on an island, mating and eating everything in sight, and goats can become a high-level nuisance. https://modernfarmer.com/2013/09/killing-goats-galapagos/ Unfortunately our two legged appetites for planetary resources are not just the stuff of myth.
It is on Easter Island. Several exponential growth factors in a limited space. Trouble is sure to follow. btw. over-consumption of natural resources is becoming a global issue. Releasing billions of years of sequestered oil and coal back into the atmosphere is beginning to make a dent in global climate regulation. If we have not solved the energy problem in 50 years we will experience a terrible shortage and competition for energy resources. In 50 years we'll be out of oil! No reduction, no saving, no recycling. We'll be out of oil, gone, empty tanks. http://www.worldometers.info/ A gasoline car bought today will become useless before its expiration date.
It just struck me that zero growth of the human race is emotionally possible by employing the services of domestic and sexual AI female companions which guarantee no procreation and leave family planning truly a choice between human spouses. Moreover, the AI come in kits which can be assembled and any interested Adam can create his own artificial Eve.
Actually, most people take a pragmatic approach because their lives depend on the system as it is. There's no moral narrative. People just support what seems the best route for themselves. The moral narrative you're talking about is either the self-congratulating conversation of the privileged class or worse, straightforward propaganda from big business or it political personnel. EB
Judging by history, cultural progress lasts a few centuries before it begins to become corrupt and declines.
Some slave owners freed a few slaves. Famous example, George Washington, in his will. Yet, it seems that the move in such not very many cases was usually motivated not on any moral principle but on the personal relationship with the salves freed. So, not necessarily always at gunpoint, but also probably not as a matter of principle either. And the then U.S. president, Lincoln, did it, definitely not with the individual slave masters' agreement, but the U.S. as a whole was itself, in effect, for all political and practical purposes, a slave master or the ultimate protector of the slave masters, and yet it did free all slaves of its own will. Or at least one Lincoln did it. Maybe it was only a matter a luck that he should become the president at this particular time. EB
What's "cultural progress" outside human rights and democratic rights? Because if something else, then who is not biased to judge that it's at all progress? EB
I think modern societies are headed into becoming dystopias instead of the utopias that many people have dreamed about. And you can't deny that Capitalism is inherently authoritarian. A perfect society will have no money relations, no exploitation, no police and no prisons and jails.
coming technological advancement might gut the human spirit. the advances in AI and robotics will most certainly usher in a new economy and replace the need to work. such a perfect society would require perfect citizens
The US was not a whole, at the time. The US as a whole did not hold slaves, and did not free them. The slaves held by some were freed by others at gunpoint, and the slaveowners who refused to free their slaves were shot, their houses burned, their wealth destroyed. Slavery has been abolished in no other way. No.
I would say that technological advancement is a good thing overall. I mean, fossil fuels shouldn't be used but there are plenty of alternatives to them now like solar power and windmills and water mills and probably other things I don't know about. It seems to me that most technology is just about comfort and convenience, and those are definitely things to strive for. For instance, houses are very comfortable indeed. Far more so than caves or the street or the forest. For instance again, cushions are very comfy too. For instance yet a third time, food tastes really nice these days, and they can even make healthy food taste nice. Far nicer than what nature produces.