The document discusses the need for a new conception of progress that benefits all humanity and avoids the harms caused by past progress. It argues that the current global economic, political, and environmental situation is unsustainable and could lead to catastrophe. A new model of sustainable development is proposed based on social democracy, a world government, and a planetary social contract to organize relations between people and with nature for the benefit of all.

1. 1
FROM THE DEPLORABLE CURRENT PROGRESS TO FUTURE PROGRESS
FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL HUMANITY
Fernando Alcoforado*
This article shows that the progress made by humanity throughout history has produced
not only benefits, but also several harms that need to be eliminated in the future. This
article proposes the bases for a new progress for humanity that produces only benefits
that will only be realized with the implantation of a new political, economic and social
order of society at the national level, the ordering of international relations at the global
level and the promotion of sustainable development.
Progress can be defined as a cumulative process in which the most recent stage is always
considered preferable and better, that is, qualitatively superior, to what preceded it. In this
sense, the change occurs in a certain direction and this progression is interpreted as an
improvement over the previous situation. Thus, change is oriented towards the best, it is
necessary, that is, progress cannot be stopped, and it is irreversible, that is, no return to
the past is possible. Improvement would be inevitable. Tomorrow will always be better
than today.
In summary, the definition of progress incorporates three key ideas: (1) a linear
conception of time and that history has a meaning, oriented towards the future; (2) the
idea of a fundamental unity of humanity, all of which is called to evolve in the same
direction together; and (3) the idea that the world can and must be transformed, which
implies that man asserts himself as the sovereign master of nature. The concept of
progress implies an idolatry of the new. Each innovation is considered better simply
because it is new. This thirst for novelty, equated with the best, quickly became one of
the obsessions of modernity [BENOIST, Alain de. Uma Breve História da Ideia de
Progresso (A Brief History of the Idea of Progress). Available on the website
<http://legio-victrix.blogspot.com/2011/08/uma-breve-historia-da-ideia-de.html>].
The theory of progress fosters the idea that indefinite growth is both normal and desirable,
and that a better future depends on an increasing volume of goods produced, an idea that
favors the globalization of trade. This idea also inspires the "developmentalism" ideology
for economically backward societies and extols the Western model of production and
consumption as the destiny of all mankind. This development ideology was perfectly
formulated in 1960 by Walt Rostow, who listed the "phases" that each society must go
through to reach the stage of advanced societies.
The idea of “progress” in social thought came with the industrial revolution that occurred
in the 18th century. From the 18th century to the 20th century, it came to be believed that
the only reliable means for improving the human condition come from new machines,
chemicals and of the most diverse techniques. There was a widespread belief that there is
a positive link between technical development and human well-being and that the next
wave of innovations will provide even greater progress. Society lives, more than ever,
under the auspices and domains of science and technology. The propaganda that is made
about science and technology is so intense that a significant portion of people believes
that they only bring benefits to society. For man, technology makes life easier, cleaner
and longer. Man cultivates a growing dependence on science and technology in the
contemporary era.

2. 2
The thesis that science and technology were the primary factors responsible for human
progress was challenged by the explosions of atomic bombs in World War II in Nagasaki
and Hiroshima. There was a discussion not only on the positive side provided by science
and technology. A climate of crisis and doubt about them has surfaced. Along with the
benefits of science and technology, came napalm, defoliants, radioactivity, and the atomic
bomb. But, can it be said that humanity has progressed with the advancement of science?
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, philosophers linked to the Frankfurt School,
claim in A Dialética do Esclarecimento (The Dialectic of Enlightenment), published by
Zahar Editora (1985) that the supremacy of science and technology has paved the way
for political ravages in favor of market capitalism. Being global and ubiquitous, market
capitalism has the necessary technique, provided by science and technology, to make men
cogs in its engine, canceling them out. Capitalist economy, science and technology, now
merged as if they were a single instance, consolidate their supremacy over contemporary
society, determining their directions with the same boldness and impersonality of an
invisible hand, according to Adorno and Horkheimer.
Humanity experienced rapid economic growth from the Industrial Revolution, but it also
created an unstable world. In many countries, for the first time in centuries, we are faced
with the dizzying increase in social inequalities, the exhaustion of natural resources such
as oil, as well as catastrophic global climate change. Capitalism has, throughout history,
tended to produce ever-greater levels of social inequality as a result of the poor
distribution of wealth and income. Humanity already consumes more natural resources
(water, oil, minerals, etc.) than the planet is capable of replacing. The consumption of
humanity has skyrocketed, but the growth of wealth has occurred at the expense of the
depletion of the planet's natural resources. The current pace of consumption is a threat to
the future prosperity of humanity. In the last 45 years, the demand for the planet's natural
resources has doubled, due to the rise in the standard of living in rich and emerging
countries and the increase in the world population. The emission of greenhouse gases
contributes to the occurrence of global climate changes, which tends to worsen until the
end of the 21st century, increasing the risks of hunger, floods and conflicts around the
world.
The facts of life show that material progress does not make man better and that progress
recorded in one domain is automatically reflected in others. Today, more than ever, it is
quite evident that the capitalist system on a national and global scale multiplies social and
economic pathologies and that industrial modernization results in an unprecedented
degradation of nature. Increasingly large segments of the population now understand that
"more" is not synonymous with "better". They are distinguishing between having and
being, material happiness and happiness in general. The development of science is
perceived more as a threat to the survival of humanity than contributing to the happiness
of all human beings with its large-scale use for war and destruction.
Isn't it time to look for another way to promote the progress of humanity? It is
unacceptable that a society like the current one that has people starving to death can be
considered an evolved society, no matter how powerful their computers are. His ability
to destroy others and himself, the present and the future, has reached unimaginable
proportions. What progress is this that attacks the environment and the human being

3. 3
himself? What progress is this that overestimates science and technology and seems to
have no eyes for misery, hunger and injustice?
It is worth noting that Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, one
of the ideological leaders of the French Revolution, mathematician and philosopher,
stated that the state of evolution and improvement of humanity could no longer be
interrupted, unless there was a worldwide catastrophe (our griffin). [CONDORCET.
Esquisse d’um tableau historique dês progreès de l’esprit humain (Sketch of a historical
picture of the progress of the human spirit) published by Garnier-Flammarion (Paris,
1988)]. The current world scenario points in the direction of catastrophes with the
possibility of a total collapse such as the widespread and lasting interruption of the
internet, the exhaustion of the global food supply system, a continental electromagnetic
pulse that destroys all electronic devices, the collapse of globalization, the destruction of
life on Earth by asteroids, the destruction of Earth by exotic particles coming from space,
global climate change, the end of the global oil supply, a global pandemic like the
Coronavirus, the collapse in the supply of electricity and drinking water, intelligent robots
that overcome humanity and the collapse of the global financial markets. These
catastrophes could bring to an end the progress made by humanity. How to transform the
current deplorable progress that attacks life on Earth into new progress on new bases for
the benefit of all humanity? It would be necessary to eliminate the current chaos in the
economy, in international relations and the environment with the ordering of society at
national and global levels and the promotion of sustainable development.
The ordering of society at the national level can be achieved with the adoption of the
model of social democracy implanted in the Scandinavian countries that are considered
to have the greatest economic and social progress whose peoples are considered the
happiest in the world according to the UN World Happiness Report 2019. The Nordic or
Scandinavian model of social democracy could best be described as a kind of compromise
between capitalism and socialism. It is neither totally capitalist nor totally socialist, the
attempt being to merge the most desirable elements of both into a "hybrid" system. Nordic
countries have the highest ranking in real GDP per capita, the highest healthy life
expectancy, the greatest freedom to make life choices and the greatest generosity.
The ordering of society at the world level could be achieved with the constitution of a
world government that would aim not only at economic order and international relations
on a world scale, but above all, create the conditions to face the challenges of humanity
in the 21st Century that could lead to its total collapse represented by the interruption
widespread and lasting effect of the internet, the depletion of the global food supply
system, a continental electromagnetic pulse that destroys all electronic devices, the
collapse of globalization, the destruction of life on Earth by asteroids, the destruction of
Earth by exotic particles coming from space, global climate change, the end to the global
supply of oil, a global pandemic such as Coronavirus, a collapse in the supply of
electricity and drinking water, intelligent robots that surpass humanity and the collapse
of the global financial markets . Individual countries, even the most powerful, and current
world institutions such as the UN, IMF, WTO, among others, do not have the conditions
to carry out these actions.
The promotion of sustainable development is imperative in the era in which we live
because humanity faces great threats, of an environmental nature, represented by the
depletion of the planet's natural resources, the disorderly growth of cities and the
catastrophic global climate change that tends to produce serious repercussions on

4. 4
economic activities and the worsening of humanity's social problems with serious
consequences for the health of the population and unemployment. It is for all these
reasons that it is imperative to establish a sustainable society on a world scale that is one
that meets the needs of the current generation without diminishing the possibilities of
future generations to satisfy theirs. How to build a sustainable global society?
To be sustainable, a society must achieve a high level of development when its members,
in addition to acting interdependently, share common goals. The new Global Sustainable
Society must be based on a Planetary Social Contract to build a new world order aiming
to organize not only the relations between men on the face of the Earth, but also their
relations with nature. It is necessary, therefore, that a planetary social contract be drawn
up that enables economic and social development and the rational use of nature's
resources for the benefit of all humanity based on the sustainable development model for
the benefit of all human beings. This Planetary Social Contract should result from the will
of the UN General Assembly that would constitute the new World Parliament that would
elect a World Government representative of the will of all the peoples of the world.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 80, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional
Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of
strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the
books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem
Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no
Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro
para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).