Trying to identify a sci-fi story in an anthology from the mid-70s

The story appeared in an anthology provided to kids in British schools during 70s.

The story had a very simple structure. It was a description given by a man who was observing a vision of the history of humanity probably from the beginning, and certainly to its end. The history he observed took the form of a long procession of people through the ages. Towards the end the observer watched technology become more and more of an oppressive burden to the humans in the procession. He watched wretched humans carrying huge pyramids that were presumably computers and that burdened them down as they walked forward. They had become slave to their machines. But then finally, at the very end, the last type of humans were freed from machines. They were transformed and danced and had limbs that bent in strange ways. They had something of the animal about them. The procession of the history of humanity ended positively.

The story had an old, perhaps 19th century feel to it, so I wonder if it was an excerpt from Wells or Stapledon, but I can’t find any reference.

Edit: I have removed my previous reference to an anthology as I have identified it, and it does not contain the story. See below. The search goes on 🙁