I think your rhetorical questions distill down to: "Is it unreasonable that societies expect conditions improve over time and act so as to bring that about"? N

I think your rhetorical questions distill down to: "Is it unreasonable that societies expect conditions improve over time and act so as to bring that about"? No, I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I think it's a good value to adopt and a good goal to strive for. No guarantees of success, of course, but it's the road I wish more of us would choose.