> the vast majority of progress civilization has made

You know for such a scientifically-minded group as HN, we sure seem to embrace Whig History as if it's axiomatic that the progress we've made thus far is some sort of global maxima.

We don't have a control group timeline. We don't know the type and speed with which we'd have made different progress under different intellectual or social regimes.

There is absolutely NO reason to believe that the path we've taken has led us to the Best Of All Possible Worlds.