In his book “Enlightenment Now,” Pinker builds atop the optimism he’s established throughout his career, using comedically framed claims with a solid grounding in data to right your perspective of what humanity can do.įor the population of most nations throughout history, the common cause of death they have faced has been disease. Rather, its imperfections present a continued opportunity to get better – an opportunity to which the world has the ability to rise. The world, as presented by Pinker, isn’t a utopia or even remotely close to one. Yet Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is still able to see through the smoke and articulate a compelling case for the contrary. People tend to paint the world as being embroiled in a constant inferno both metaphorically, in matters of racism and disease, as well as literally, in matters of climate change and the burning West Coast of the United States. Photo by Kevin Doan.Īfter reading the newspaper or coming fresh off of social media, it is common (sometimes even expected) to see humanity as opposed to itself. Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now” presents an optimistic view of the world.
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