Nowadays, the world civilization of the human race continues to surpass many achievements of other societies in the past. New technological advancements are achieved every day and the population is growing faster than it ever has before. We must look back at past civilizations and analyze them to understand what the future holds. In the pursuit of progress, human societies create problems that they lack the resources or political motivation to solve, for fear of short-term losses in status or quality of life, which impede further progress and sometimes lead to collapse.1 Three factors that have allowed past civilizations to fall into the traps of progress and ultimately contributed to the collapse of those societies are social conflict, ecological exhaustion and overpopulation. In terms of social conflict, past civilizations have been able to fall into the trap of progress through many forms of social conflict. . First, the Classic Maya civilization had seen many social struggles. The Mayans were very intellectually competent, however, there was a tremendous rush for power and resources. Maya society was competitive among its city-states, each eager to grow and expand. The Mayan city of Copan began as a small village next to a river and was initially a harmless settlement. As he grew, he built more and more fertile land due to the growing need for prosperity. As a direct result, farmers were forced to move onto fragile land where the land had previously been cleared of timber. Furthermore, a significant amount of silt had been washed down the hillside and most of the city, including entire houses and streets, had been completely buried. The city became a victim of its own success... half the paper... pse of those companies. For fear of short-term losses of stability, past civilizations did not change their destructive practices and ways of life, which ultimately led to their collapse. Although it was too late for past civilizations to escape the traps of progress, it is not too late for our world civilization today. We have an advantage over the past civilizations discussed above. Because we know these past societies, we can learn from them and take action to change the way we live. With the growing knowledge and motivation we have to solve today's problems, there is hope. In the end it depends entirely on us. Whether we sit back and let history repeat itself, in what seems to be an endless cycle of social collapse, or we take action and strive to continue our legacy of being the most prosperous and sustainable civilization to date..