by Ronald G. Havelock
Introduction
First, allow me to comment on a line in the preamble to this invitation. It reads, “Until the past decade or so, progress was widely assumed.” I would ask, assumed by whom? Progress, variously defined, has been assumed by some, but certainly not by the great majority. Intellectuals, in particular, including many in the scientific community have consistently decried progress, warning of our destruction unless we do this or that to change our ways. Doomsday scenarios have been extremely popular for at least the last 50 years, when Paul Ehrlich warned of the “Population Bomb,” followed within a decade by the Club of Rome proclaiming the imminent demise of all sorts of resources that would surely bring “progress” to a grinding halt. The fact that none of these gloomy predictions panned out did nothing to stop their growing popularity.(continue…)