7. Read the main body of Prof. Biletsky’s paper and give an oral summary of the text:
Ladies and gentlemen! The subject of my presentation is “Humanism, Ethics and Technological Progress”. ...
...As you know the question of existence of ultimate values has been discussed for centuries. Greek absolutists Socrates and Plato were disgusted with the relativistic values advocated by the Sophist philosophers of their days. They clearly suggested: (1) absolute values exist, and (2) some values are more important than others. It was Plato’s statement that ideal forms exist in the realm of values just as ideal forms exist in the realm of geometry and logic. The German philosopher E. Kant gave the world his understanding of ethics - “the categorical imperative”. He said. “There are two things in the world wor admiring: the sight of the starry sky and the inner moral world of a man”. T1 humanistic approach to science is also wonderfully described in the works of oth thinkers and scientists of the past and present time: Confucius, Ecclesiastes and Thom- of Aquinas, A.Schweitser and T.Mann, our countrymen H.Skovoroda, I.Puluy an V.Vernadsky. They all spoke of human responsibility of a scientist.
Speaking about professional ethics of a specialist, we underline that a scientis first and foremost should bear in mind absolute ethical values while he is workin creatively. He must be responsible for his invention as it should be created and applie for the good, not for the bad of mankind. Unfortunately, there are cases when results o scientific investigation are tailored to the needs of the company which sponsors thi investigation. So the publication of the results in mass media is an advertisement for th products manufactured by this company, even if these products are harmful to the healtl of consumers. Other ethical problems that should be considered by scientists ar plagiarism and violation of the rights to intellectual property.
... Now the world has already accepted that nuclear war would mean the end o civilization, but still the threat of nuclear war is not yet completely eliminated. If mankind had understood that fact much earlier, there would not have been such tragedies as in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chornobyl, Bikini and Mururoa atolls. However, today environmental pollution has replaced nuclear war as the major threat to our survival.
Solving the problems of the environment - such as the depletion of the ozone layer, water pollution and global warming - is the task of today's technology. Before the industrial revolution started in Europe, workers had been cruelly exploited. Then during the second half of the 19th century and in the 20th century, a “humanization” of industry began. Child labour was banned, insurance and pensions were introduced. New inventions eased the labour. Today we need a second humanization - in the realm of environment.
For centuries most technological inventions and discoveries were directed either towards developing new kinds of weaponry, or towards making daily life easier, but consequences of the technological progress for the environment were not taken into consideration. Now we must find ways to maintain living standards in industrially developed countries and to improve them in developing ones, with as little damage to the environment as possible. Some people say that because science gave birth to industry and industry has destroyed the environment, science shouldn’t be encouraged. This is completely misguiding. It is true that the mismatch which emerged between the technological progress and humanism caused such global problems as survival of man in the nuclear century, labour dehumanization leading to unemployment, ecological problems. Science and technology, by themselves, are not a source of ethics and values. They can tell us what will happen if we do this or that - for instance, how many people might be killed by a nuclear bomb. But the decision on whether to develop the bomb cannot be a scientific decision. This can only be judged by ethics. So what we need is to fill scientific technological progress with humanistic ethical values.
However, the spiritual pollution which we face today, may be as dangerous as the material one. It manifests itself in what I would call the “greediness of society” - where people think only of money, wealth, entertainment and their own personal short-term well-being. And it can be seen in the lack of awareness of sense and purpose of life. Thus, we should promote ethical norms based on ultimate values such as justice, conscience, love, wisdom and freedom. Only in this way we can solve the problems which threaten the world today - the destruction of environment, alcoholism, drug- abuse, AIDS, totalitarianism and all sorts of extremism. It is our duty to shape a better world for all of us here on the Earth.
