There And Back

by Magnus Pyke

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pyke was standing in a very different place on the road of scientific progress - one can see glimpses of the internet in his work. But his fundamental point is undiminished by progress: that progress is not good or bad except to the extent that it helps us towards the good life. He surveys the different dimensions in which this principle can be said to apply and offers examples in each where the opportunities presented by technology are rejected for a "greater good". Perhaps as importantly, he offers insights into the ways that the belief in scientific advancement as a good in itself makes life worse than it could be, primarily through growing concern with increasingly trivial risk - doing so without considering the value of the risk, he cautions, misses the point.