Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ronald G. Havelock, PhD (Shady Side, MD) is the director of the Knowledge Transfer Institute, a consulting practice formerly affiliated with The American University of Washington, D.C. He is the author of five books, includingThe Change Agents Guide to Innovation (with S. Zlotolow).

Ronald G. Havelock, PHD, is the director of the Knowledge Transfer Institute, a consulting practice formerly affiliated with the American University of Washington, DC. He is the author of five books, including The Change Agent's Guide (with Steve Zlotolow).

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ACCELERATION

Prometheus Books

Contents

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................7PART ONE: THE FACT OF HUMAN PROGRESS..............................................................15Chapter One: The Idea of Progress.................................................................23Chapter Two: Measuring Progress in Human Terms....................................................39Chapter Three: The Case for Progress..............................................................67PART TWO: THE SIX FORCES..........................................................................93Chapter Four: Animal Learning: Forward Function Force #1..........................................97Chapter Five: Externalizing Learning: Forward Function Force #2...................................115Chapter Six: Social Connections: Forward Function Force #3........................................129Chapter Seven: Knowledge Platforms: Forward Function Force #4.....................................141Chapter Eight: Scientific Problem Solving: Forward Function Force #5..............................155Chapter Nine: Modern Global Diffusion: Forward Function Force #6..................................187PART THREE: WHERE THE FORCES ARE TAKING US........................................................197Chapter Ten: The Emergence of Ethical Humanity....................................................199Chapter Eleven: Fears for the Future..............................................................225Chapter Twelve: What Will the Future Bring? What Will Be and What Ought to Be.....................257NOTES.............................................................................................297ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................321INDEX.............................................................................................337

Chapter One

Something quite amazing was happening among the Greek city-states of the fifth century BCE. There was a great flowering of art, literature, science, and technology, following on the heals of some extraordinary military victories over the giant, invading armies and navies of the Persian Empire. The Greeks of this time had deep thinkers in abundance, people they called philosophers. Such men were intellectually fearless, making fresh observations and expressing new ideas about all sorts of things: politics, religion, the nature of the universe and the matter in it, and the nature of man himself. For the first time in human history, they were also able to write down their thoughts and observations. Aeschylus, a veteran of Marathon, did his thinking and writing in the form of poetic drama, and he used the myths passed down through earlier poets, such as Homer and Hesiod, to pose important issues for his countrymen's consideration.

Prometheus, the forethinker, was the god of technology, and he stole the special technology of fire making from Zeus to give it to man. Aeschylus expands on what this gift symbolizes to include the wisdom to create all manner of new technologies. Thus, he is a stand-in for human-as-creator, the special human capacity to fashion new artifacts and develop new skills to improve his or her lot on Earth. According to the myth, Zeus is so angered by this deceit that he punishes Prometheus, chaining him to a rock where the buzzards feed perpetually on his flesh. But why is Zeus angry and why does Prometheus need to be punished? Could it be that there is something wrong about humankind's efforts to improve itself ? Are humans trying to achieve godlike status through their own clever invention? The play is a dialogue around this issue: humankind's arrogance and hubris in trying to improve itself, in reaching for godlike powers, in defiance of the power of God himself. Prometheus could be punished and restrained but not killed because he, too, was immortal—as is the capacity in humankind to improve itself, using its intellect to advance toward a more and more godlike condition. That is what the forward function is all about.

Since the time of Aeschylus, this human drama has been replayed countless times, pitting the hopeful promises of humankind's progressive drive against its fears of what punishments might have to be endured for challenging the old ways and the powerful old gods of our fathers. On the pages that follow, this battle is engaged once more as we take up the cause of human progress. This is another time of amazement, a time when science is finally cracking many of the mysteries which befuddled our ancestors and a time when wondrous new technology "fires" are transforming the very meaning of our existence.

The case for progress requires two issues to be settled. The first is to determine what better means, and the second is to marshal the evidence, the pros and cons, regarding any detectible advancement toward whatever that "better" is. Part 1 works on both issues.

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO KNOW IN AN AMAZING TWO HUNDRED YEARS

For some time we have known that we live on a solid, spherical mass. We also now know that our planet has been circling our sun for more than five billion years....