Is Progress Possible?

"I believe in progress. I believe that our contribution to the progress of civilization is a good measure of how well we have used our lives. Humankind has had writing for about 13,000 years. Books got pretty cheap around 600 years ago when Gutenberg created movable type. The Internet has made access to good ideas almost free for billions of people. So why aren't the vast majority of us happy and healthy by now? Where is progress?"