I didn't understand TimS to be only saying that there has been a lot of suffering in history. I understood him to be saying that the cause of this suffering was "unwillingness and inability" (by "society") to prevent it.

Now perhaps it is true that if society was willing and able to prevent suffering, there would have been less of it. But it's equally true that if society was willing and able to prevent hurricanes or sunrises there would have been less of them. These are bad explanations.