> the future is perceived as more advanced than the past
This is a very recent development, and it's still not universal. For the longest time, people believed that things were better in the past, that we are slowly moving away from a golden age, and that things are getting worse.
Some concrete examples are the biblical Garden of Eden/Armageddon; beliefs in Atlantis and other mystical places; the admiration for the Greek and Roman times, especially during the dark ages.
This is a very recent development, and it's still not universal. For the longest time, people believed that things were better in the past, that we are slowly moving away from a golden age, and that things are getting worse.
Some concrete examples are the biblical Garden of Eden/Armageddon; beliefs in Atlantis and other mystical places; the admiration for the Greek and Roman times, especially during the dark ages.