The Paradox of Progress

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Improvements in technology are not a recent revolution in society. Today smartphones, tablets and even Google glasses have reshaped our lives, but during the fifteenth century shipbuilding, navigation and arms extended the global reach. Trade was the crucial factor in maintaining and building a nation. As civilization grew there was a need to progress forward, but in the efforts to do so, improvements and power became more prevalent than tribal sustainability. Despite the technological progress during the fifteenth century personal difficulties and social problems seemed more prevalent and more conspicuous than ever before. The technological advances of the past century, impressive though they may have been, did not lead to perceptible improvement in collective health and happiness. In fact, many critics today argue that the quality of our lives and our sense of personal fulfillment have declined rather than increase due to this paradox of progress.
The expansion of the Ottoman Empire established global networks of trade and cross-cultural exchange. By the fifteen century people of...

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