> This is a reasonable conclusion except we know that while Beam was
> generally pessimistic about the prospects for positive, long-term change
> he wrote yarn after yarn which ended with the impression that changes
> for the good had been accomplished.

Oh, agreed.  But it was long, hard, and definitely didn't go in straight
lines.

HBP seems to really want us to understand that human nature doesn't
change over thousands of years, spaceship or no.

But the 20th century was definitely more fun to live in than the 10th,
so progress is a thing -

usually not clearly understood by the people who live through it.