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Progress and modernity

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Explore more Society

Black and white photo of a group of men in matching shirts at a “Male Couples Circle of Hope” event with balloons and snacks.

essayHuman rights and justice

Sometimes democracy works

Same-sex marriage is an astonishing case of progress propelled by democracy, in the face of public spite and misinformation

Michael Fuerstein

Photo of a middle-aged man climbing a red ladder on a tall brick industrial chimney with a cityscape in the background.

videoWork

Like a cheery Sisyphus, Fred dismantles an industrial chimney one brick at a time

12 minutes

An arid landscape with rocky ground, sparse green shrubs and distant hills under a cloudy sky.

essayProgress and modernity

The shadow of prosperity

A shrub meant to end hunger now chokes Kenya’s farmlands. It’s a parable of how visions of progress can outgrow their promises

Samuel F Derbyshire

People relaxing in a lush garden with inflatable flamingos and laptops by a pool.

essayProgress and modernity

Authenticate thyself

Data has created a new and paradoxical social order: the promise of emancipation is made possible by classifying everything

Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy

Photo of a woman in a red coat gazing out a foggy window with a contemplative expression.

videoProgress and modernity

Moving from Tibet to Beijing, Drolma reconciles big dreams with harsh realities

31 minutes

Vintage painting of a man with glowing eyes surrounded by floating spheres on a decorative background.

essayStories and literature

Merveilleux-scientifique

With brain swaps and death rays, a little-known French sci-fi genre explored science’s dark possibilities a century ago

Fleur Hopkins-Loféron

A painting of a mythical forest scene with centaurs, satyrs and wild animals in a chaotic setting.

videoNature and landscape

‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden

5 minutes

Photo of a gibbon mother holding her baby in a lush green forest setting.

videoAnimals and humans

Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat

19 minutes

A beach with a white S U V, chairs and a bird in the foreground, and a rocket on a launch pad in the background.

videoFairness and equality

Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches

14 minutes

A person’s hands pouring olive oil into a row of wine glasses with people blurred in the background at a tasting event.

essayFood and drink

The flavour of mechanisation

Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention

Massimo Mazzotti

Painting of people playing dodgeball around a square pool with ripples in vibrant colours, long shadows cast on the ground.

videoFilm and visual culture

A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life

4 minutes

A child peeking over the back of a horse in a grassy open field with a distant horizon and a slightly cloudy sky.

videoAnthropology

Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?

16 minutes

A person at night placing an object in a large bin labelled ‘TRASH ONLY’ on an empty street lit by streetlights.

videoPersonality

A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded

14 minutes

A suburban street with mountains in the background, featuring a girl on a bike, parked cars, and old furniture on the sidewalk in front of a house.

essayProgress and modernity

The great wealth wave

The tide has turned – evidence shows ordinary citizens in the Western world are now richer and more equal than ever before

Daniel Waldenström

Silhouette of a man, a child, and a cow with large horns sitting on the ground at sunset.

essayProgress and modernity

In praise of magical thinking

Once we all had knowledge of how to heal ourselves using plants and animals. The future would be sweeter for renewing it

Anna Badkhen

A person and a dog look out from a window of a blue house during snowfall. The house has an external staircase covered with snow on the left, and a snow-covered porch on the right. The scene is set on a snowy day, with visible accumulation on the ground and surfaces.

videoTechnology and the self

In the town once named Asbestos, locals ponder the voids industry left in its wake

16 minutes

Colourful hand-drawn illustration of a busy market scene. Background shows fruit stall and vendor. A yellow sign reads DO NOT LITTER.

videoCities

A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county

3 minutes

A bustling 19th-century cityscape featuring a wide street with construction activity, carriages and pedestrians. Hills and a bridge are also visible under a cloudy sky.

essayReligion

Conscientious unbelievers

How, a century ago, radical freethinkers quietly and persistently subverted Scotland’s Christian establishment

Felicity Loughlin

A stunning cityscape at dusk with a vibrant red sky, silhouetted skyscrapers, and a person near a railing taking a photo of the skyline across a river.

essayThinkers and theories

Our tools shape our selves

For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience

Bryan Norton

A woman is sitting at a table holding a knife at a chopping board, but her head is switch with the green onion she is cutting. Yellow blinds and a lamp are in the background.

videoTechnology and the self

An artist swaps her head with everyday objects in a musing on consumerism

4 minutes

Close-up of an elderly Hmong man with grey eyebrows, holding a traditional instrument to his lips, and a pensive expression on his wrinkled face against a dark background.

videoLanguage and linguistics

Messages born of melody – hear the whistled language of the Hmong people

18 minutes

A woman in a pink coat and carrying a pink umbrella walks past a protestor carrying a yellow placard appealing to people to use cash

essayEconomics

Going cashless

It’s not in the interests of the ordinary person but it’s not a conspiracy either. A cashless society is a system run amok

Brett Scott

A figure is silhouetted in an older style apartment block window at night. In the distance are taller modern tower block apartments

essayCities

The haunting of modern China

In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts

Andrew Kipnis

A woman and two children dressed in traditional First Nations clothing stand in front of a teepee structure

essayLanguage and linguistics

Language is medicine

For First Nations people, health is not a matter of mechanical fitness of the body, but of language, identity and belonging

Erica X Eisen