It seems to me that the shape of human history is much like the shape of evolution. Innovators battle incumbents.
Some innovations which find a niche establish themselves and become incumbent.
Incumbent institutions adjust in order to survive. Survival over time changes the institution into something which suits conditions. Hopefully.
But this isn't to say that either innovations or evolving incumbent institutions are intrinsically more virtuous than the alternatives. A lot of everything is to do with fortune and circumstance.
We move forward. We hope to make progress. But the dance of history doesn't necessarily lead to universal happiness. There are many missteps and trips and arrhythmic errors and mismatched chemistries along the way.
Who knows where history leads? Perhaps it is nowhere.
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