Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this because Bill Gates said we should all read it (here's his review: www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Enlightenment-Now). I thought this book was pretty interesting and engaging even if at times I found it unpersuasive. the concept is basically that things have gotten better throughout history (I believe this) and that they will continue to get better. Furthermore, a belief that they will get better is inspirational to people to make it so, whereas a belief that everything is on the decline is discouraging and causes people to give up. So far so good.

I also agree with some of his cultural complaints about the left. I am a liberal so I'm not being snarky but vitriolic reactions from the left seem to be getting more common among regular people (as opposed to leaders of movements, politicians, and celebrities).

But there were some issues with his ideas and facts better explained by some angry environmentalists: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/07/environmental-calamity-facts-steven-pinker. To be fair, he definitely does NOT deny global warming/climate change or the potential of a human calamity, he just thinks we're going to pull it with an informed increasingly progressive populace and new technologies.

And just more generally, you can't dismiss "black swans" based on statistics. That's the whole point of black swans! So yeah, I'm not convinced that something catastrophic won't suddenly smite us, whether it's an unexpected consequence of advancing climate change or something totally unanticipated.

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