March of progress
The March of Progress can be seen as the details of an intricate self-organizing fractal pattern revealing itself over time.
"We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Many insist that there is no "direction" to things like history, religion, or evolution. However, this is more a result of confusing the random component of the generating equation with true randomness. While there will always be variations and setbacks, the underlying theme will always reveal itself in time to be inevitable.
This is different from Teleology because it only considers the emergence of general things like evolution, intelligence, monotheism, or democracy to be inevitable, rather than specific things like the particulars of our human form and history. There are milestones that will always be reached because they represent logical adaptations to their environment, which we describe mathematically as "attractors."
This point is explained in much greater detail here: The Purposeful Universe: Why the Emergence and Continual Evolution of Life and Intelligence are Inevitable Products of Cosmic Complexification by Bobby Azarian
Evolution of Species
While the specific human form is not an inevitable result of evolution, the emergence of intelligence absolutely is. Species that live in water evolve gills to extract oxygen from water, and those that live in air develop lungs. Far from being random they are necessary adaptations to the environmental conditions.
Intelligence is the ultimate adaptation and always bound to evolve just like the lungs, the eye, opposable thumbs and so many of the other things that make humans what they are. An alternate evolved intelligence could be different in many ways, but the functional components would all be there in some format. As such the eventual rise of an organism with all of these general components is inevitable.
Evolution of Religion
The number of gods humanity believes in has marched steadily downward as time goes on. Animism started out with an individual god for every important thing. These coalesced into polytheism with gods for all the big concepts. Then came monotheism where they all became a single god and the god concept was able to maximize its effect. But each monotheistic religion has its own god and so they will inevitably reduce to a single universal god.
Evolution of Knowledge
The Necessary Prerequisite page outlines the way that knowledge builds on other knowledge and how understanding basic concepts is necessary to be able to grasp more advanced concepts that may be important to your life choices.
It is like the fractal zoom in reverse, where individual details combine into a holistic pattern that is only revealed once there is enough data to reveal it.
Evolution of the In-Group
As our cultures interact and we are naturally more aware of the plurality of human experience, we tend to expand the circle of who we consider part of our in-group, until we reach the point of universalism and seeing the oneness of all humankind.
Evolution of Happiness
The question of whether or not "progress" actually leads people to live happier lives is one that has plagued philosophers for centuries. The issue is particularly stark in modern times, when we have enormous progress in technology and improvements in key quality of life indicators, but also an epidemic of loneliness, depression, and a crisis of meaning.
Britt Hartley has a great discussion of these competing viewpoints in this video, citing John Gray who argues that moral progress is an illusion, and Steven Pinker who is a moral optimist.
The reason for the lack of progress when it comes to happiness and our ability to enjoy the future is the disconnect between our beliefs and social norms and the modern capitalist society that we find ourselves in. Our traditional beliefs were designed to make people content with Feudalism, not capitalism. They emphasize obedience to authority, resistance to change, and faith in beliefs without evidence. Holding these beliefs in a society that is egalitarian, constantly changing, and oriented towards science will inevitably cause cognitive dissonance.
Suffering is not inevitable and happiness can be improved. To do so we must adapt our beliefs to suit modern reality, allowing us to embrace change and enjoy modern abundance. The progress in technology has far outpaced our progress in moral education and the psychology of belief, but they will catch up eventually. We just need to learn how to effectively teach people to enjoy the abundance of modern society without becoming addicted to everything, and how to create systems with sustainable balance of power dynamics and incentives that are aligned with well-being.
Still I Rise
A reminder that no matter what setbacks you face, still you rise.
By Maya Angelou.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shameI rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Evolution of Music
Access to the entire history of music will unlock the creativity of future generations. The explosion of musical styles and cultural fusions since the adoption of the internet has been a very positive thing out of a fairly mixed bag of pros and cos.