Enlightenment now: the case for reason, science, humanism, and progress

Description

Part I: Enlightenment. Dare to understand! ; Entro, evo, info ; Counter-enlightenments -- Part II: Progress. Progressophobia ; Life ; Health ; Sustenance ; Wealth ; Inequality ; The environment ; Peace ; Safety ; Terrorism ; Democracy ; Equal rights ; Knowledge ; Quality of life ; Happiness ; Existential threats ; The future of progress -- Part III: Reason, science, and humanism. Reason ; Science ; Humanism.;The follow-up to Pinker's groundbreaking The Better Angels of Our Nature presents the big picture of human progress: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature--tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking--which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.