By putting "progress" in scare quotes Doug admits that what he is writing has nothing whatever to do with the question I raised. And if he had not put it in scare quotes he would have obviously been assuming what is to be demonstrated.
I was serious in posting that poem by Arnold. As far as I can see both Andie and Doug are merely repeating the argument of that poem. All we have to do is stick to the path and all will be well.
There is no path. That is an illusion from extrapolating the events of a few centuries to all of hisoty, past and present. Particular imporvements tell us nothing about historical patterns. Neither does the terrifying death rate in Africa tell us anything about historical patterns.
Carrol