 The story of humanity is one which, when viewed through the lens of pessimism, can turn any sane mind to scornful misanthropy. But by a simple change to a more optimistic option, we allow ourselves the privilege of praising our heroes and the progress they pioneered. Is humanity greater now than in the days of Periclean Greece? Are we moving in the right direction? These are the questions I wish to explore, and if at all possible, gain a greater understanding of. What should be our metric by which to determine progress? Should we look to the collective happiness of an age? No. While it is shown to be more abundant where health and wealth are present, it seems to have an inverse relationship with intelligence. It must be something more objective. Recently, while reading, I stumbled upon a characterization which stuck out to me. Durant, a magnificent philosopher and historian, defined progress as the increasing control over the environment by life. It is clear that throughout history not every civilization meets our standard, but as Durant again points out, progress need not be continuous to be real. When we gaze down the corridor of history we see only its best, and of course its very worst. We have seen a thousand heroes and a thousand despots. We have witnessed countless atrocities and marveled at innumerable miracles. But behind these pivotal events and peoples, we scarcely take notice. If the world seems more chaotic and barbaric today than when Epicurus sat contently in his garden, then I can assure you, it is not that these things are more prevalent, but that we are bombarded by more of them. Today we store the collective happenings of humanity in our pocket, but this also means we store its problems as well. Notice this with the average citizen of the Roman Empire who knew only what was passed along by word of mouth. Never so widely has liberty been guaranteed, never so abundantly as wealth been enjoyed. And while it is true that Utopia is not yet on a horizon, I think it is fair to say that we have become a more prosperous species. I have not forgotten, of course, those who fall into the lower strata of civilization. Their lives may not be much the different than when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, but these numbers are ever dwindling. It is obvious to most that we are vastly superior in the realms of science, education, agriculture, and embarrassingly war. But what is often contested is our collective moral character. Again, something we must keep in mind here is that while we may rank ourselves below the moral paragons that were Confucius, Socrates, and Spinoza, these individuals are exactly that, paragons. Instead, we should look to what age most accurately personifies their character and ideals. When we sit down and examine closely each epoch, it becomes euclideanly clear that here and now, in our own time, marks the greatest era of the human race. This may be startling to some since evil and chaos seem to rest around every corner, but consider these things first before casting judgment. Crime is falling. While it may seem the contrary, it is only because we have greedy rogues cashing in on the world's suffering. Those crimes that are committed, we are more tolerant of. Where in 400 years ago, a man could acquire the death penalty by simply pinning a heretical document against the church, today we call these individuals mere intellectuals. All mannered, good people no longer in such overwhelming numbers wear the chains of superstition. The infamy has been crushed and I say Voltaire would certainly smile upon this age. In the western world, our women enjoy an equal freedom with our men, as they always should have. Consequently, this has doubled the amount of geniuses available to the world. Looking at these things, it is easy to see our moral progress, but as these tired old problems fade away, new issues are ever rising from their ashes. The science, which has saved billions of lives, has also produced weapons capable of destruction on a level which would make the Mongol conquering of East China look like a child kicking over a sandcastle. It has also caused the relatively new issue of climate change, which threatens even more destruction than our man-made toys. The progress of the developed countries leaves the door open for exploitation of the developing. Advances in healthcare and poor sex education have caused a population problem, which, if gone unchecked, can have and already is having devastating consequences. With all of this being said, I have hope for the future of our kind. This may be unfashionable in our day, but we have faced crises before and the human race has survived. As for me, I will do my best to contribute to this progress and can only hope those around me do as well. Tell me your thoughts on the progress of the human species in the comments below, and as always, thank you for talking philosophy with me, until next time.