Ronald Wright's "A Short History of Progress"

I just finished listening to this series of lectures, based on his book of the same name, and found them really interesting (and pretty depressing).

He presents a theory of what he calls 'progress traps', whereby, he argues, societies tend to 'fall victim to their own success'. Progress in a particular area continues until a point is reached at which it becomes a danger. One such example is the progression from the invention of gunpowder to the invention of the nuclear bomb. As he puts it, "a small bang can be useful, a bigger bang can end the world." His historical/archaeological analysis of the fall of the Sumerians, Maya, Aztecs, Romans, the Easter Islanders, etc, and the 'progress traps' they built for themselves, tends to focus on 'progress' in hunting that eventually led to the extinction of the prey, and 'progress' in agriculture that eventually left the land barren.

"Palaeolithic hunters who learnt how to kill two mammoths instead of one had made progress. Those who learnt how to kill 200 - by driving a whole herd over a cliff - had made too much. Many of the great ruins that grace the deserts and jungles of the earth are monuments to progress traps, the headstones of civilisations which fell victim to their own success. The twentieth-century's runaway growth has placed a murderous burden on the planet. "A Short History of Progress" argues that this modern predicament is as old as civilisation. Only by understanding the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated since the Stone Age can we recognise the inherent dangers, and, with luck, and wisdom, shape its outcome."

I've uploaded the entire series to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPMaGdg_38

They're definitely worth your time.