Science is advancing so rapidly that it requires individuals to ask themselves questions and challenges that will serve as reference points to help them better understand and embrace the power that science offers to humanity. Otherwise, its achievements can remain “unfathomable.”
The pursuit of progress that enables human beings to be freed from suffering, disease, and hunger is entirely legitimate. It is always desirable to take a step forward that provides us with the means for the peaceful construction of a just society, which allows for the full realization of citizens, their creative abilities, virtues, intelligence, and which supports fruitful coexistence. However, this progress is not solely guaranteed by the development of resources that society possesses or wishes to possess, such as economic, scientific, or technological resources, but rather requires clarity of goals that harmonize and guide them. The key factor in development is indeed human beings, given that the entire society depends not so much on the resources it can possess, but rather on ethical principles. those who manage those resources. We must not forget that ultimately it is the economy, science, and technology that are in service to humans, and not the other way around. Science is progressing rapidly; however, it would be dangerous if this progress were to occur without the influence of conscience. As an old aphorism says, “Science without conscience is mankind’s downfall.” In this, as in everything else, things are not inherently good or bad, but it depends on the intention with which they are used, and it is individuals who determine that intention.
Does this mean that science should not progress, as it does in the field of medicine, energy, or technology? Of course not. Knowledge is an essential support for human progress and must continue to grow, even in more directions and areas than what the economic interests of certain sectors dictate. Research could bring crucial answers and valuable tools for sustainability in development on the planet, but it must be able to be freely directed towards the common and universal good.
Let us invest in science, but also in the education of people. Let us invest in physical and mental health. We should all be concerned about that pandemic which, in a consumeristic society, in the era of communication, makes people sick due to the lack of real formation of individuals. Perhaps it is precisely this that makes me a philosopher, as I believe that progress must be comprehensive, because otherwise it is not progress.