Segovia: Reflections on the progress of civilisation

Having completed my work in Korea I travelled to Madrid to meet Franca and we stayed with her sister's family. It was my first time in the Spanish capital and I enjoyed seeing the great boulevards and gardens, modern and ancient architecture, and, of course, the Prado, the great art gallery where we viewed the Goyas and a wide range of great art, Spanish and from other European countries.

Spain is currently suffering some economic stress. Some of the lighting and the amount of water used in the famous fountains has been reduced in a visible sign of the relative austerity. Europe is gradually reorganising and doing so at a time of international loss of economic confidence. Very soon they are going to have elections, but one feels that whoever is elected there must be serious limitations upon what it is possible for them to do. Furthermore, elections depend upon the wisdom of the electorate and this is inevitably drawn from past experience which may be a poor guide to what Europe faces in the next few years and the decades to follow. I feel that serious changes are afoot, that such times are perillous, but there is surely, too, a real possibility of a quantum leap forward.

While stying in Madrid we paid a visit to Segovia and saw the amazing Roman aqueduct. It was interesting to ponder the way that technology has affected human history. By being able to bring water to this rather barren area, using not just the aqueduct but also tunnels, the Romans were able to make possible a flowering of civilisation. The material conditions make it possible but then many different kinds of civilisation are possible. We admire their civic buildings but we would not want to replicate their gladiatorial games, for instance.

A good deal of my thinking recently has been to do with the process of social evolution. One feels fortunate to live in twentieth century Europe. As far as I can see, never before have so many people and such a diversity, been so effectively organised in such a manner that all are fed and sheltered, there is health care and communications, and with such longevity and such low rates of imprisonment, homicide, whether criminal or juridical, and infant mortality. This is a remarkable thing. We see several systems of social organisation competing in the world at the moment - the American, the European, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Islamic, the Indian. On some simple gross criteria such as those just mentioned it is possible to see how well they are doing. All these contemporary systems are doing better than the Romans, though some are doing a good deal better than others. Nor is this progress at an end. 

Comments

[Robert McCarthy]

Progress from here needs to be about a radical simplification in our lifestyles. European social organisation has a head start here compared to other Western nations in that cities are compact,most people live in relatively small apartments and public transport is fairly efficient.
My current thinking is around sustainable wellbeing; hoping that the gifts we have in our lives can be available to thousands; why not millions of generations to come. Clearly and particularly in Western cities our wellbeing has come from using whatever resources we can take with no view to future generations. I wonder how different it will be living with a footprint that is really respectful of who is to come after us. Let's hope we find out.