Is Progress Inevitable? 200 Years of Moral Expansion
LessWrong essay traces two centuries of steady liberal progress: serfdom and slavery abolished, democracy expanded, violence against women and children plummeted, median wealth and health soared.
Peter Singer calls this pattern “moral circle expansion”—each generation less racist than the last, historical atrocities (1512: public torture, marital rape, slavery) now morally repulsive and rare.
The question: is this arc inevitable, or contingent on choices we make?