From: Scientific American
The Secret behind One of the Greatest Success Stories in All of History
In Steven Pinker’s new book, Enlightenment Now, he argues that we live in the best of times—and must remain devoted to reason and humanism if that is to continue.
In thinking about the state of the world, it is easy to see the signs of backsliding, and to feel at least a little despair. And this, argues Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker, is a profound error. In Enlightenment Now, he makes a powerful case that the main line of history has been, since the Enlightenment, one of improvement. We, the people of Earth, are better off now than we have ever been. And to fail to understand this—and the reasons why—is to put that very progress at risk. Pinker answered question from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook.
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