Ever since it first appeared on earth, the species homo sapiens has made immense progress. It isn’t just our species’ phenotype that has gone through tremendous changes; it is also the illustrious performance in sciences, the outstanding technological achievements we can take pride in, the delicate, complex and subtle social and political structures we have developed. Our species’ overall progress follows an exponential pattern of growth, and this becomes even clearer if we compare it to this of other primates. Indeed, if in some miraculous way a primitive ancestor of ours had the opportunity to make a journey through time and visit our world, he could hardly recognize

anything.

This is not absolutely true, however: some among our avocations might ring a bell or even look quite familiar to this strange time-traveler; war for sure, and also rape, murder, and a few more of this kind. These have remained as they have always been, save that now – due to technological progress – they come in much more wild, massive, complicated and effective form. The bottom line is that, when it comes to moral progress, our species is by no means justified to entertain the same enthusiastic feelings that befit its performance in almost every other field.