The corollary to this is a question I ask often: is there progress? Do we or nations learn anything from history? Has humanity moved forward, has life become less nasty, brutish, or short? The problem is that it depends on where and when you look. For if there is an arc toward progress, it too is awfully slow. There are places in the world with slavery still, grinding poverty and religious warefare. Finally, religious dogma ultimately believes the justice in that arc is meted out by a supreme being somewhere in eternity, taking man out of the equation entirely.