ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the origin of dominant stories, noting the difference between material power and the creative humanities as competing sources. Today’s dominant metanarrative (Progress and Prosperity) is then introduced, including its historical evolution and its present status as the command-and-control function for the collective behaviour of human society on Earth. The discussion focuses specifically on the political commitment to economic growth as an essential feature of that story, and as a non-negotiable policy priority. Specifically, the chapter reveals the origin of the idea of growth and how it came to be perceived as an economic, social, and environmental panacea, and how the process of growth came to be dissociated from the material world, thus providing a justification for limitless material expansion on an otherwise finite planet.
