We must move on to a new principle of spiritual and material progress.

UNESCO: Dialogue among civilizations: Address by Alexandre Yakovlev (Russian Federation)

In Jiashan township, the mayor shows off a large blackboard advertising the material progress made by the district's 24, 000 people.

ECONOMIST: China

Mr Bronk next asks whether faith in progress, and specifically in market-driven material progress, is as well-grounded now as it was in the 18th century.

ECONOMIST: What��s progress?

We could hope, as we listened, that on this great issue, like others demanding answers now -- bringing our fiscal house in order, restoring equality of opportunity to our economy, ending our country's sick obsession with guns -- that future Inaugural addresses would be able to note the kind of material progress that we have seen with regard to combating racism or ending wars.

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This incessant march of energy density (more energy per unit of raw material) has undeniable logic extending along the entire length of the arrow of progress.

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