I think you are mistaking ambition and the spirit of betterment for "naivety and arrogance."

You say "it is one of those things that humans do and efforts to get rid of it would seem doomed," but that was once applicable to slavery. It may be difficult, quixotic, and almost comically ambitious. But the only thing that would make it "doomed" would be an attitude that says it must be.

MBlume's comment below summarizes nicely how we as a society might go about that (as does this whole thread).

Incidentally, I don't think this comment is really so bad; it's within reasonable argument, if only it didn't come blasting out of the gates with insults.