[benmathes]

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.

However, it's almost guaranteed that you do descend from conquerors, warlords, or murders. This probability says nothing about what you should 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.