Mammoth Hunting In The Stone Age: The Chinese Tour Driver

Progress is something difficult to define simply because there is no simple way to describe it. In the video we see these profound individuals struggle with a simplistic definition of what progress really is. Through the course of the video we start to uncover a meaning of the word. That is, it is there is an increase in complexity as change proceeds therefore, change is the key to progress. Ideally, as a society we seem to have this notion that progress is creation of more things we already have. It is mass production of machinery and technology. This concept of progress is rooted in overproduction and mass consumption. That is where the progress trap comes into play. There was the idea of mammoth hunting in the Stone Age where we, as a species, …show more content…
He mentioned many things such as the ability to buy meat and other products now that they have advanced technologically. They have the means to transport fresh vegetables and fruits that would normally not be in season. The Chinese tour driver’s father on the other hand was saying that the world’s view of China’s growth has not changed, or has changed very little. This brought up a small conflict between the two in the interview showing how different generations have different views on such substantial …show more content…
Oligarchy is described as a group of individuals who have high influence in political power based on their economic power. The idea behind an oligarchy is to wipe clean debt of individual’s that was far too big to ever be repaid. It would go in the oligarchy’s hands so that the state would not become involved to reinstate the debt. An oligarchy is predominantly used in poor countries, but it is also seen in the United States. The most notorious of oligarchies in the US is that of Wall Street. They have a small revenue and say in politics and other major monopolies across the country. As it is known though such powerful industries can come to a halt, like it did when it crashed during the Great Depression sending the country into widespread panic. There is a problem with a concentration in power in wealth because as it is related to the Roman Empire, they stripped away the land due to mass advancement in civilization, or people. Wealth and power means more people. More people means more use of resources. That is precisely what happened, natural resources were beginning to be used, and erosion eventually became a problem. There were these natural issues that came from the “fire” of civilization. They were burning out of these resources that were expendable. The lesson that came from this was that as soon as there was reduction in civilization, the land was beginning to reinstate itself back to a