You're definitely correct that we are progressing as societies. We observe new rights and freedoms along with rates of death and murder lower than ever in history.<p>However, it's almost guaranteed that you <i>do</i> descend from conquerors, warlords, or murders. This probability says nothing about what you <i>should</i> do or whether you should learn from the past. It only states that in the past few thousand years shit has been pretty bad, and humans adapted to it.