The myth of progress has sometimes served us well -- those of us seated at the best tables anyway -- and may continue to do so. But I shall argue in this book that it has also become dangerous. Progress has an internal logic that can lead beyond reason to catastrophe. A seductive trail of successes may end in a trap.
Wright also writes, "Our main difference from [our kin,] chimps and gorillas is that over the last three million years or so, we have been shaped less and less by nature, and more and more by culture. We have become experimental creatures of our own making. The experiment is now moving very quickly and on a collosal scale.... We have reached a stage where we must bring the experiment under rational control.... If we blow up or degrade the biosphere so it can no longer sustain us -- nature will merely shrug and conclude that letting apes run the laboratory was fun for a while but in the end a bad idea." Unsustainable forestry practices such as clear cutting, which results in unparalleled deforestation, represent just one of the numerous environmental progress traps we face.
