what really is progress?

i told myself that progress , advancement and purpose are all illusions. i said this because, in spite of so much of technological progress, human beings essentially face quite the same problems we've had since 1000s of years. i guess real progress happens when humans honestly try to eliminate the actual "evils" in our worlds. like hatred, non-tolerance of others ideas or thoughts, the drive to cheat and such. i think progress of humankind is chiefly the progress of its mentality.