11 - Epilogue

Summary

Thinkers opposed to the increased dominance of technological progress have continued to express a fear that the result will be disaster or dehumanization. Their opposition to the utilitarian reconfiguration of the idea of progress has been all the more effective because even the technophiles cannot agree on which innovations will gain control of society or on what the results will be. In the absence of a clear-cut goal which progress is supposed to achieve, it is always possible to disagree about the benefits and dangers of what is being developed. As other cultures take up the focus on technological innovation, it is no longer clear that the West will shape the future. Diversity and innovation remain the key factors, just as the Darwinian perspective on progress would imply.