Certainly, fifty years ago life was not as easy as it seems to be now.
Communications, technology, medicine, living standards are incredibly different
from the ones our parents and grandparents got to know. Progress is a
phenomenon that amazes us day after day and it is without hesitation a daily
concern. This is because progress without knowing what to do with the progress,
is bad.
There are many examples of progress turning out for bad. For example in 'By the
Waters of Babylon' it says, "When gods fight gods they use weapons we do not
know of. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was the time
of the great destruction and burning" (pg 51). These weapons the story talks about
are nuclear weapons that could destroy a whole city at one shot. We should know
what to do with our knowledge. "Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too
fast" (pg 52).
Knowledge balance sheet - accounting knowledge
Knowledge will make you free
Early weapons models, such as the "Fat Man" bomb, ...This is a very valuable lesson. It speaks of what should be done with
the knowledge. We should ponder over the good and bad sides of the same object
before we try to create or enhance the same product.
Also, in "The veldt" there are other examples for progress being for the bad.
"Happylife home, which cost them $30,000 installed, the house that clothed and
fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them (pg 16).
This is an example of how people were wasting money for needless things. They
are also very lazy and don't seem to want to do their own work. Also people tend
to get addicted to things that make their life easier " The two children were in
hysterics. They screamed and pranced and threw things.