Progression In Ronald Wright's A Short History Of Progress

In Ronald Wright’s work, A short History of Progress, he discusses how humanity’s progression has provided temporary results as these methods of progression can be detrimental to the world later on. Wright tackles this issue by addressing the questions Gauguin raised, “What do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Firstly, the concern of humanity’s origins is addressed by looking back into the past, meaning our evolution from apes to the people currently existing. Subsequently, this precedes into the next question of what human beings are. As the past and present shows, homo sapiens are those who prevailed and adapted to their environments. Though surviving and making it to the present means that humanity must have ended the progression of another species. As Wright states in relation to the disappearance of the Neanderthals, “It may follow from this that we are descended from a million years of ruthless victories, genetically predispose by the sins

One of the main things emphasised is progression itself, as in how it can be acceptable to occur, but an excessive amount can be fatal. To demonstrate this sentiment, many examples of “progress traps” are mentioned. An example of one would be the perfection of hunting; hunters being able to obtain more than one source of meat is tolerable, but killing an entire herd is a trap. Many of these traps are in relation to the human race’s movement towards expansion which in turn leads to civilization. Sadly, people are sent back to the beginning as they are too rash and do not think about the consequences. He illustrates this fact with the incident involving Easter Island and its trees. The people were too concerned with making statues and forgot about the environment and what it has to offer. Protecting the environment and preserving it is a huge issue and a lesson people need to take from the