Ronald Wright - Seeing the Future in the Ruins of the Past

Ronald Wright, novelist, essayist, historian and philosopher, whose studies in history and archaeology reveal disturbing patterns in the rise and collapse of human societies – patterns that we are repeating today.

Archaeology, says Ronald Wright – who began as an archaeologist – “is perhaps the best tool we have for looking ahead” because it allows us to see patterns in the rise and fall of human societies over the ages. It tells us “that people all over the world, time and again, have made similar advances and mistakes.”

When societies fail – and almost all do, sooner or later – the story is remarkably consistent, as Wright points out in A Short History of Progress (2004). We see failing societies “sticking to entrenched beliefs and practices, robbing the future to pay the present, spending the last reserves of natural capital on a reckless binge of excessive wealth and glory.”

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This interview is part of The Green Interview, an archive of resources pertinent to an understanding of the future of life on earth and humanity’s roles and responsibilities in sustaining it. The archive was produced by the late Silver Donald Cameron and Chris Beckett during the 10 years before Cameron’s death in 2020. Through the efforts of family and friends and the generosity of private donors, The Green Interview has been made freely available to all who would find it of benefit. Its permanent home is with the Science, Environment and Economy Archives of Library and Archives Canada.

#Philosophy #ClimateChange #TheGreenInterview

[xikano]

Brothers and sisters, the 6th Mass Extinction is definitely here. Mother Earth, thank you for everything you've provided me. I am privileged and honored to have been a part of your gorgeous beauty. 🙏🏽

[dianedong]

It amazes me that there are millions of people chatting about the football game, or their favorite celebrity, meanwhile there are only a handful of people discussing the future survival of civilization.

[Ogmin]

Mr. Wright, please write another book!

[newmaterialist]

Like the idea of the Progress Trap, excellent. Not sure that indigenous Buffalo Jumps are implicated in the near extinction of the bison.

[spacelion]

Progression is there, probably there.but progress?

[steveascension]

Yes, we cannot continue to grow our economies and populations.China is the modern classic example of this, having progressed from a near-primitive agrarian society 35 years ago to the world's largest producer of things and the world's largest polluter.We are perplexed by the green movement's strange silence. Ronald Wright is a very interesting man. China is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide gas in the world, with 10, 668 million metric tons emitted in 2020. The U.S. The U.S. is the second-largest emitter of CO2, with 4, 713 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide emissions in 2020.

[susanbolman]

I thought it was great until he got into it about "climate change deniers". I guess there it is not possible to even question things any more. If you do you're bad. I was surprised when he said that.

[janetginger]

looking tired; interview too long....wife around?