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The subhead says "…calling into question the steady march of progress in human history." Has anyone here an idea where this notion of a "steady march of progre

The subhead says "…calling into question the steady march of progress in human history." Has anyone here an idea where this notion of a "steady march of progress in human history" is coming from? To me, reality seems more an up and down, a roller coaster of history, if you will. It's of course hard to pin down what progress exactly is. Increasing amount of knowledge while decreasing wisdom? (eg. destruction of environment) There is this famous quote from Einstein about world war four. Maybe this is how it will happen?

ardy42 6y ago
> Has anyone here an idea where this notion of a "steady march of progress in human history" is coming from? IMHO, it's the base assumption of modern society (e.g. "new" implies "improved"; instead of recommitting to old ideas, we say we need new ones). It's not true, but it kinda looks true if you only consider recent history with a little cherry-picking.
- Torwald 6y ago
  The scale of the time-span looked at is the skewing factor, that makes sense.
cafard 6y ago
Without reading the article, it sounds as the author or editor is referring to Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.
- FroshKiller 6y ago
  I thought from the title it was about Carolyn Forché's poem of the same name.
JamesLeonis 6y ago
"The Angel of Progress" was described by Walter Benjamin as a metaphor for describing the Onward March of History. [1] > A Klee drawing named “Angelus Novus” shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe that keeps piling ruin upon ruin and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress. [1]: http://www.barglow.com/angel_of_history.htm http://www.barglow.com/angel_of_history.htm

ardy42 6y ago

> Has anyone here an idea where this notion of a "steady march of progress in human history" is coming from? IMHO, it's the base assumption of modern society (e.g. "new" implies "improved"; instead of recommitting to old ideas, we say we need new ones). It's not true, but it kinda looks true if you only consider recent history with a little cherry-picking.

Torwald 6y ago
The scale of the time-span looked at is the skewing factor, that makes sense.

cafard 6y ago

Without reading the article, it sounds as the author or editor is referring to Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

FroshKiller 6y ago
I thought from the title it was about Carolyn Forché's poem of the same name.

JamesLeonis 6y ago

"The Angel of Progress" was described by Walter Benjamin as a metaphor for describing the Onward March of History. [1] > A Klee drawing named “Angelus Novus” shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe that keeps piling ruin upon ruin and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress. [1]: http://www.barglow.com/angel_of_history.htm http://www.barglow.com/angel_of_history.htm