Progress, Values, and Responsibility

"In any case, progress implies that it looks much greater than it really is." This statement by the Austrian poet Johann Nestroy became famous when Ludwig Wittgenstein chose it as a text for the beginning of his Philosophical Investigations. Is it true, however? It seems to be true for the problems, methods, and methodologies of philosophy itself—for Wittgenstein's own investigations, which depend on Georg Lichtenberg, Arthur Schopenhauer, Fritz Mauthner, and other forerunners. But it does not seem to be true for technical or technological progress. Instead, we might say that, "Technical progress is much greater than seems to be the case."