Again, a bit tricky Mike (sorry). I certainly hope for a better future and on many objective measures (e.g. for many, improved life expectancy, freedom from disease, access to clean drinking water, improvement in material conditions etc) things have clearly improved. However, I don’t actually think the evolution of human society can be universally characterised as ‘progress’ or that there are any innate tendancies that will necessarily improve things — progres is very uneven, locally, regionally and globally. If Trump is elected for example, I’m not sure how that would play out. Gramsci’s ‘pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will’ springs to mind, but we live in hope!