Surviving Progress (2011)
3.8 of 5 from 46 ratings
1h 26min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Technological advancement, economic development, population increase - are they signs of a thriving society? Or too much of a good thing? Based on the best-selling book A Short History of Progress, this provocative documentary explores the concept of progress in our modern world, guiding us through a sweeping but detailed survey of the major "progress traps" facing our civilization in the arenas of technology, economics, consumption, and the environment. Featuring powerful arguments from such visionaries as Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Stephen Hawking, Craig Venter, Robert Wright, Michael Hudson, and Ronald Wright, this enlightening and visually spectacular film invites us to contemplate the progress traps that destroyed past civilizations and that lie treacherously embedded in our own. Leading critics of Wall Street, cognitive psychologists, and ecologists lay bare the consequences of progress-as-usual as the film travels around the world - from a burgeoning China to the disappearing rainforests of Brazil to a chimp research lab in New Iberia, Louisiana - to construct a shocking overview of the way our global economic system is eating away at our planet's resources and shackling entire populations with poverty. Providing an honest look at the risks and pitfalls of running 21st Century "software" (our accumulated knowledge) on 50,000-year-old "hardware" (our primate brains), 'Surviving Progress' offers a challenge: to prove making apes smarter was not an evolutionary dead end. - Actors:
- Ronald Wright, Mark Levine, Robert Wright, Marina Silva, Kambale Musavuli, Vaclav Smil, Colin Beavan, Michael Hudson, Jane Goodall, Ming Chen, Changnian Chen, J. Craig Venter, Raquel Taitson-Queiroz, Gary Marcus, Daniel Povinelli, Victor Gau, Margaret Atwood, Simon Johnson, Enio Beata, David Suzuki
- Directors:
- Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
- Voiced By:
- Not Available
- Writers:
- Harold Crooks, Mathieu Roy
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
- Countries:
- Canada
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