Go to this website (a supplement to Peter Diamandis’s 2012 book “Abundance”) which illustrates various forms of progress across multiple dimensions of human well-being. Pick a topic heading. Write a description of each of the trends you see, i.e., for each figure. Do you think each trend actually represents progress? If not, why do you think? Finally, with Dan and A. Sen in mind, what do you think could be barriers to progress in each topic? (another way to think about this is: why do you think progress hasn’t occurred even more rapidly?) 

Looking at the automobile and airline fatality rate, I discovered that both of the two rates have the trend of decreasing with time since early 1900s. As one of the most common ways people use in daily lives, automobile have experienced hundreds of technological innovations. There are lots of generations of engines, mechanical systems, appearances and materials etc. Not only did the technology of automobile production improved, the traffic rules, quality of roads and other factors also improved to form a complete system of automobile using. As a result, the fatality rates of automobile decreased a lot and this trend certainly represents progress. However, currently, improvements can still be made to change the sources of energy automobile use into electricity and to develop more intelligent systems inside the automobile to prevent accidents. These are questions scientists face nowadays and if people cannot solve them, hidden trouble may occur, which will harm people’s freedom in many ways. Airlines became the first choice to faraway destinations because of their fast speed. As technology improved, the fatality rates decreased a lot and it is even safer than the automobile. It is because planes are far more dependent on technology than automobiles and the plane crash accidents are all correlated with technical reasons. Airline accidents are more serious than car accidents, so it is also important to focus on technological improvements. Some of the barriers might be the construction of planes to achieve smaller air resistance or weather forecasting systems to guarantee safety during flights.