"Hegel and Marx believed that the evolution of human societies was not open-ended, but would end when mankind had achieved a form of society that satisfied its deepest and most fundamental longings. Both thinkers posited an "end of history": for Hegel this was the liberal state, while for Marx it was a communist society. This did not mean that the natural cycle of birth, life, and death would end, or that important events would no longer happen. It meant that there would be no further progress in the development of underlying principles and institutions, because all of the really big questions had been settled. [But] does not the satisfaction of certain human beings depend on recognition that is inherently unequal? ... even to the point of becoming bestial "first men" engaged in bloody prestige battles, this time with modern weapons? [W]e ask whether there is such a thing as progress, and whether we can construct a coherent and directional Universal History of mankind." - Adriano

in terms of dynamic systems, Fukuyama is asking whether History has a limit point -- or does it follow a trajectory like a predator/prey ecosystem similar to the dialectical relationship between Hegel's master/slave. - Adriano