This question basically asks if what has happened before can lead humans toward improving what comes next; if the past helps us to improve our future. The general, theoretical answer is: yes. The mistakes and obstacles we encounter help us to learn from the experience and how to avoid similar situations when they arise again in the future. But the truthful answer is less simplistic. Humans are more complicated and unpredictable and thus cannot always ?t into general theories like this one. To uncover the answer to this question, I believe we ?rst have to answer questions like: do we really learn from history, does it lead naturally to progress, and what exactly is "the good so cietv"?