How do Twain's ideas on progress relate to today?
Ah, progress! We always seem to be chasing after it, believing it’s some magical cure. In *A Connecticut Yankee*, I showed how technology and supposed advancements can be used just as easily for destruction and oppression as for good. We invent marvelous machines, but do we invent marvelous people? I suspect not. The same old human vices—greed, vanity, a love of power—tend to hitch a ride on every new invention, whether it’s a steam engine or… well, whatever shiny new contraption you youngsters have now. We're still wrestling with whether our tools are making us better or just more efficient at being fools.
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