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Progress vs Parasites
- Narrated by: Russell Bentley
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
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Progress vs Parasites
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Summary
The change in our ancestors' behaviour was barely perceptible at first. Only a few clues in the archaeological record - sea shells, ochre and stone tools exchanged over long distances - hint at what was to come. Today, a network of interdependence and trade spans the planet - lifting most of our species out of the grinding poverty of the past.
But for much of history this engine of human progress stalled, with societies rigged in the interests of small parasitic elites. From the Greeks and Romans in antiquity to China, India and Europe in the Middle Ages, the history of the world can be written as the constant struggle between the productive and the parasitic.
Progress vs Parasites charts this struggle. States rise and empires fall as the balance between the two shifts. It is the idea of freedom, Carswell argues, that ultimately allows the productive to escape the parasitic - and thus decides whether a society flourishes or flounders. A robust defence of classical liberalism, Progress vs Parasites shows that the greatest threat to human progress today - as it has been in every age - is the idea that human affairs need to be ordered by top down design.
Critic reviews
"There is remarkable breadth of history in this book, ranging from ancient Greece to the present day." (Guardian)
"A passionately expressed set of arguments about why our current political arrangements do not work." (Daily Telegraph)
"As a revolutionary text, Carswell's is right up there with the Communist Manifesto." (Sunday Times)
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What listeners say about Progress vs Parasites
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John C
- 04-11-19
An insightful view of what drives human progress
I very much enjoyed the breadth of history covered to support the case that a lack of a 'parasitical' elite is key to human progress. Its an interesting prism through which to view the efficiency and benefits of governance. This book doesn't pull any punches for its proposition of free trade.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- h.f.chaudry
- 13-09-19
Conservative right wing bull shit!
Can’t believe I bought this book. The opening along the lines of climate change, acid rain all other bad things are irrelevant and the world is getting better! I didn’t waste my time after reading the first chapter. You shouldn’t either.
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1 person found this helpful