Why we never learn from history | John Gray on the illusion of progress

Overview

John Gray argues that human societies rarely learn lasting lessons from the past. Across history—especially in the 20th century—violence is repeatedly used to resolve disputes, and once people are killed, it becomes impossible to return to the prior moral and political order. He suggests this pattern is returning in the present.

The “Myth of Progress”

A central theme in Gray’s work is a critique of the “myth of progress.” He distinguishes between:

• Real progress in science and technology, which can genuinely extend human power
• A mistaken ethical/political belief that progress automatically accumulates into moral improvement

Although scientific knowledge and many technologies improve material life (he cites examples such as effective vaccines and other life-saving modern systems), Gray argues that moral improvement does not follow the same trajectory. Even when societies advance materially, moral understanding and social trust are easy to disrupt, and after a few generations gains are often reversed or “shadowed” by losses.

British Social Planning as a Case Study

Gray illustrates these ideas through his own experience with British social planning:

• He grew up in a multi-generational, largely safe neighborhood with few signs of street crime.
• Later, the area was redeveloped into newer estates, driven by good intentions and improved material conditions (e.g., baths and heating).
• Despite better physical living standards, the social fabric deteriorated:
  • families were reorganized by age
  • infrastructure was lacking
  • graffiti and vandalism appeared
  • social life became worse

Gray presents this as an early lesson that large-scale social engineering—even when designed to help—can produce unintended moral and cultural harms.

Politics as Temporary Expedients, Not Emancipation

Gray connects these views to his broader political stance. He argues that politics should not be understood as a universal project of emancipation, but rather as:

a series of partial, temporary expedients for recurring human evils

Accordingly, he rejects the idea of continuous, cumulative improvement over generations—even if reforms are partly beneficial.

Influence: Isaiah Berlin, Tragic Choices, and Ethical Incoherence

When discussing influences, Gray describes his attraction to Isaiah Berlin’s experience-based ethics and Berlin’s account of “tragic choices.” For Berlin, ethical decisions may involve irreparable harm—there may be no option that preserves innocence without costs.

Gray recounts a story from WWII: a civil servant sacked an entire typing pool to stop a security leak, fully aware that it would permanently ruin innocent people’s lives. This example supports Gray’s broader argument that:

values are not coherent or consistently harmonizable, and efforts to impose a unified moral design on society tend to fail because human beings are fundamentally contradictory.

Berlin’s perspective, Gray adds, was grounded in lived historical experience—not academic abstraction—shaped by witnessing revolutions in Russia and later work in the US during WWII.

Presenters/Contributors

• John Gray (speaker)
• Charlie Kirk (mentioned)
• Charles “Sheldon” (present at least once; referred to as “Thanks, Sheldon”)
• Isaiah Berlin (influence; discussed)
• General de Gaulle (mentioned)
• Karl Popper (mentioned)
• George Soros (mentioned)
• Roald Dahl (mentioned)
• Churchill (mentioned, via Berlin’s views)

Others referenced

• Lenin (mentioned)
• Roosevelt (mentioned)
• The Romanov family (mentioned)