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Gregory Rawlins, a CS professor here, is working on a book on... not sure how to describe it. (See below) He'd be happy if people read it and commented on it, especially people not steeped in such ideas already. If you live in town he might buy you a meal. (I'm getting two, but I read the notes and checked his math. :) )
http://www.roxie.org/books/shoulders/
Expansion: he talks about how we make nice moralistic stories of our progress, which aren't true. E.g. there was a long gap between proof of how to stop scurvy and the Royal Navy actually adopting the measures, because of sheer conservatism. We haven't banned slavery (de jure if not always de facto) and liberated women because we suddenly made moral progress, but because technology allowed us to. People like then are like people today -- as bright, and as moral (or not), but with different education, and above all different technology (which includes social arrangements.) Our progress isn't a matter of planning or design, nor completely random: we do things in response the world, which in turn modifies the world, shaping our further responses. Like ants laying down scent trains in response to local cues, which trails then affect the behavior of those and other ants. Only he gives more examples and lots of details and references.
http://www.roxie.org/books/shoulders/
Expansion: he talks about how we make nice moralistic stories of our progress, which aren't true. E.g. there was a long gap between proof of how to stop scurvy and the Royal Navy actually adopting the measures, because of sheer conservatism. We haven't banned slavery (de jure if not always de facto) and liberated women because we suddenly made moral progress, but because technology allowed us to. People like then are like people today -- as bright, and as moral (or not), but with different education, and above all different technology (which includes social arrangements.) Our progress isn't a matter of planning or design, nor completely random: we do things in response the world, which in turn modifies the world, shaping our further responses. Like ants laying down scent trains in response to local cues, which trails then affect the behavior of those and other ants. Only he gives more examples and lots of details and references.