Human destiny lies in constant maneuvering. Throughout long stretches of history, people could only manage a partial understanding of society’s past. On one hand, this was due to the biases of the ruling class, which routinely distorted the historical record. On the other hand, it was the small scale of production that narrowed people’s vision.
The limitations of human understanding come down to two things: class bias and the scale of production. One is ideology, one is material — two shackles binding every individual, every group, every tier of society.
The scale of production determines the size of the cake. The rules that govern how that cake is divided determine one’s rank and standing. And within that tension, human destiny maneuvers — twisting, shifting, always searching for space to move.