Progress, even moral progress, is ultimately a human invention. It is a product of our wills and minds, and thus a technology.

But when we trace back the origins for each agent in a field of causes, we find that each strand leads to a newly introduced technology, a new idea.  That means that new technologies today will cast a long shadow into the future and shape the lives of our descendents.

"New technologies are never created from nothing." Arthur observed. "They are constructed—put together—from components that previously exist; and in turn these new technologies offer themselves as possible components—building blocks—for the construction of further new technologies."