To what extend progress is a positive thing ?

I'm going to talk about the notion of Idea of Progress. First of all I'd like to give a definition of that notion. We can define it as an improvement, a development or a change. A technical, scientific or social advance which contributes to make the world a better place. We can ask us to what extend progress is on a positive way ? First, I'll speak about the medical aspect of the progress and of course about plastic surgery. Then, I will evocate the space conquest by the United States in the 20th century.

Since the end of the Second World War, our society is changing with the apparition of new technologies. Those new technologies help the development of every sector, from agriculture to medicine or smartphones. Here I'm going to speak of medicine, and most specifically of plastic surgery. On a picture we worked on in class, we can see two beautiful women who look alike and can correspond to nowadays canons of beauty. They are staring at a glass box, which contains a nose. But they are good looking, so it doesn't make sense to replace their nose by a fake one. This type of surgery should be necessary after a car accident or when you have a birth malformation or when your physical appearance makes you unhappy and prevent you from living
a normal life. Plastic surgery seems to be good for persons who had a car accident for example, but could not be very good because of persons who abuse of that. There are some pills that are sold in pharmacy which will improve your intelligence, your beauty if we trust the label. People are manipulated into thinking that those pills are a king of wonder pills though we know it's impossible to change chromosome with pills. The medicine progress has two sides, one better than the other.

The 21st July 1969, Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut enters in history as the first man who walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong said "That's one small step for a man, one giant for humanity". The space conquest was a presidential program issued by J.F.Kennedy, reflecting
the Cold War mentality of the Time (communism against capitalism). To show their superiority, USA cannot afford to let USSR win the space race. Neil Armstrong's moon landing is a source of national pride. JFK said "This country was conquered by those who moved forward, and so will space." That represents the mentality of the US development and the progress in the world. Every
country with lot of money invested in research, for space and others sectors. That is the current mentality too. The progress never ends and the development of new technologies could become more influent than it is nowadays. That's why the research for progress had never been so important. This progress is a good thing because more that the influence of a country it can affirm, it changes
our lives, our daily lives by making them easier.

To conclude, progress can be a good thing and is actually a good one by making our daily lives easier and more comfortable. But this comfort is sometimes abused by some people, for example in plastic surgery. But at all, progress is a good thing. If we take the daily life of our grandfather when they were young, it was less comfortable. In that way, progress can be associated to a good thing. But as the daily life of our grandfather was different, what will be our in 50 years?