The 20th Century -- net gain or net loss for humanity?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I don’t pretend to understabd what human progress is, or even if it exists. But for the moment let’s just think of it as the slope of a line or curve.

  1. Based on events of the 20th century, did we go up or down?

  2. What was the most hopeful sign of human progress?

  3. What was the most distressing sign of human… er, whatever the opposite of progress is… Weakness? Stupidity?

Answers:

  1. I’m unwilling to vernture an opinion on this.
  2. I’d have to say that the (relatively) peaceful transition of power in South Africa is the brightest spot in the 20th century, followed closely by the smashing of the Berlin Wall.
  3. The failure of world leaders to acknowledge that we are on a near-suicidal path leading to environmental destruction. Yeah, I feel bad for Flipper and Gentle Ben, but we’re detroying our OWN habitat, and that’s even worse.
2

We broke even… like pretty much any other century.

3

On the whole, I’d say up.

Bulging nuclear arsenals that were never used, no global conflicts for the last 55 years.

A correctable lack of even the most basic necessities such as potable drinking water in some areas of the world.

That, and putting lights in Wrigley Field.

4

Well, I’d say that we came out pretty much on top, unless you think your standard of living in 2004 is behind that of 1904.

Hey, any century where we double our lifespan and improve exponentially our quality of life is fine by me!

5

With sharper sticks, heavier rocks, and other fancier toys comes greater chance for mischief but I think we’ve done all right for ourselves… Yes, we’re still destroying the world and some country somewhere is on the brink of war but how is that any different from any other century?

More people live in relative freedom, have luxuries unheard of in times past, have time to pursue things they enjoy instead of having to slave away in a field or factory, and live much longer and generally more content lives than in any other period in human history.

I’d say we’ve taken a huge step forward.

6
  1. Based on events of the 20th century, did we go up or down?
    definitely up. We reached our moon, we decoded human DNA, we formed the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, the WHO, and so forth, and we didn’t (proportionally) kill any more people in senseless wars than we had in previous centuries.
  2. What was the most hopeful sign of human progress?
    The moon landing. If you mean socially or spiritually, India winning independence, because of what it meant for peaceful revolution in so many other nations.
  3. What was the most distressing sign of human… er, whatever the opposite of progress is… Weakness? Stupidity?
    The Holocaust, definitely.
7

The 20th centuary was definatly a net gain for humanity -we went from 1.7 billion to 6 billion.