Sarmad Mughis Tahir

PROGRESS Progress is growth of a thing into a better form of itself or into the worse in some cases, with the gradual passage of time. The most vital variable to defining what progress is, is time. The term progress is defined by many people and many dictionaries in many different ways but the factor of time is always found in all the definitions. Time passes by and progress is seen in things but the fact the progress almost always has a positive connotation to it is not how it should always be seen. It is considered that the passage of time somehow makes things better hence the phrase “old is gold”. But my opinion is that progress is a relative term. Progress in terms of science can be mostly connected to improvement. The products of science become more efficient with the progress, as they go through more research. But in terms of social context progress is very confusing as it relates to the same thing moving towards betterment in some aspects and towards and abyss of darkness in the other. The fact that due to development of new cultural settings the death of cultures is happening is not very positive for the people who believe in their cultures as inspiration for their lives. Anything that progresses actually loses something at the same time. A region gets more sophisticated technology and better living conditions but loses its real culture. A beautiful woman gains knowledge and composure with progression of time but loses that beauty. A cute child learns the realities of life but loses the innocence that makes him/her cute. A scientific system gets more efficient but also loses the generic version of it. Progress is always multi-dimensional and has three most important factors to measure it. These factors are environmental, economic and social. The progress of human condition has to do with the change and forward movement of economic, social and environmental conditions. The progress has a very positive connotation when it is talked about in terms of most important factor i.e. time. But at times the progression with the passage of time is not for the betterment. Sometimes the two factor go in positive and one factor goes to negative. As they say that there is never a final decision in social sciences, the absolute statement about positivity or negativity of progress would be an overstatement. The people do not always uniformly gain wealth, social status and environmental betterment at the same time. These differences and gaps between these factors show that progress does not always happen for the best. Progress is a natural process that does not need an external force to fuel it. It happens naturally in a natural setting and does not necessarily require a forceful agent to further it. Evolution can be considered as an example in this regard as it happens to progress on its own and making better versions of the same things constantly. The development of life forms is way better and reformed and is constantly evolving. The evolution of universe is a progress that gives life twists and turns and makes life more interesting and happening. The condition of life evolves because of the constant change that occurs in the environment. The relationship between people living on the earth is so intricate and this complicated relation is getting more and more complicated with the passage of time. Science has brought huge change in the way people live and think. The environment in general and ecological change because of scientific and other factors have changed the way the lives of people were lead and they dictate the new living standards as well. The progress in environmental conditions has made people’s living subject to it and needs a constant compliance with these factors. Progress in this way can also be considered as a good thing that it has modernized and made easy the existence of people. The lives of people around the globe have also changed for worse in a way, that people have to live in a very mechanical world. The modern world needs too much to be done on part of every individual. The lives of the this newly reformed and progressive world asks for too much from every person and is very challenging and tough in comparison with the conditions of older times when life was simpler and less demanding. Everything that we see around us was not the way it is. All these things like science, political science, education almost in everything related to life has gone through series of changes, throughout the history. These changes were made by the people who had hope, hope of life and hope to change the course of life for themselves and the people of the world. This modification was source of happiness and satisfaction. This kind of vision and open mindedness towards ability to change the lives of people makes a new change. Life becomes better with the passage of time and the progress that comes with it. Progress is a motivation for humanity to do good things. Most religions and schools of thoughts believe that if the life of a person is not better every day than the previous day, it means that the life of the person is not going on the right path. The concept of progress is a motivational phenomenon that gives the world a better chance to strife for furtherance and development. It is one of the reason for the people to be able to make new things and create the things that make the lives in general upgraded. Progress motivates the world to struggle for the improvement of human condition and in turn becomes a reason for more progress. The concept of progress is very much a cause for its own persistence. The cliff that rolls small parts of its existence down itself in shape of boulders is progress. But if it is good or bad progress is contestable. A river carving through rocks shows progression but does its widening of path or in some cases change of its path, is a positive or a negative thing is totally up to the understanding of the thinker. The changes that can be seen in shape of progress in the infrastructure of cities are almost always good but for an old-fashioned person even these changes are a bad thing. So in this context it can be said that progress is a positive and negative thing at the same time, it depends on the perspective of the person who is looking at it. The concept of progress is considered to be a positive journey of all the things towards a better version of themselves. But, progress in reality is just the progression of life with the pace of time. In scientific context, it can be connotated as positive and for the better but in social contexts the progress is a relative term. Progress moves the society towards improvement in some ways and in some other ways it drives it to downfall. The passage of time does not always make sure the advancement of things instead it can go both ways.