Page "A Short History of Progress" Paragraph 3
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The first chapter, " Gauguin ’ s Questions ", poses the questions that provide a framework for the book.
Referring to Paul Gauguin's painting of the same name the questions are: Where do we come from?
What are we?
Where are we going?
Wright defines progress using the Victorian terms " the assumption that a pattern of change exists in the history of mankind ... that it consists of irreversible changes in one direction only, and that this direction is towards improvement ".
Despite the extended time span of the Stone Age, Wright places the first sign of progress as being the ability to create fire.
The competition between Cro-Magnon and Neanderthals is examined with respect to the conditions that allowed one to out-compete the other.
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