Quote of the Week....from Martin Luther King, Jr.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.                                                               ---Martin Luther King, Jr.

When I read this quote by Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is this coming Monday, it struck me as having a profound meaning on different levels.  I'm not sure exactly what he was thinking about when he made this comment, but I can see some its ramifications.  Look at the advance in technology over the past two centuries: a higher standard of living on one hand, but at great cost to the environment on the other.  Or how it seems that progress in science and engineering tends to be applied by the military in its never-ending campaign to be able to wage war in a more deadly fashion.  But there's even more to Dr. King's statement when you consider how society wraps itself around innovations to the point where being deprived of them becomes a matter of social injustice...

We live in an exciting age as we note, in just a few years, how much medicine and information technology have progressed.  I just read a novel set in 1989 where the protagonist is struggling to get to a pay phone to make an important call...only 29 years ago.  Now having a cell phone seems like a necessity rather than a convenience or luxury...we've integrated this innovation into our society to the point where those not possessing one are at a marked disadvantage in their lives.  The same goes for the great advances in medicine, both in its important preventative practices and in diagnosing and treating diverse ailments and injuries.  But this progress carries with it a steep price tag, and the way health care is meted out...at least in this country, even if Obamacare stays in effect...puts those in less favorable economic situations in potentially fatal circumstances should they become seriously ill or injured even when the technology and medicine exist to save them.  And the blessing of the Internet, which almost instantly connects the world with us, has all sorts of problems, including criminal fraud, the enabling of terrorism, international hacking to interfere with elections, and many others.  When I went back to college to take some history courses just 15 years ago, there was the Internet, but the classes were still primarily book-based.  By the time my son entered college six years later, owning a laptop and having Internet access had become absolute requirements.  Those in our society without computers and Internet service are being left behind, not just because these products are intrinsically indispensable, but also because our social institutions are increasingly mandating their use...

When I described "progress", I was discussing technological progress.  But Martin Luther King, Jr. may have also been thinking of progressive social movements as well.  Progress in any form is change, and when change happens, it causes instability.  And that can be very unsettling to many people and cause them to lash back...even when that change is clearly for the better...