Ep52 - Steven Pinker: "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress"

If you think the world is coming to an end, think again.  People are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, Steven Pinker believes the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases.  Instead, follow the data: in seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker will demonstrate that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide.  This progress is not the result of some cosmic force, it is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. But now, more than ever, Enlightenment principles require vigorous defense.  With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress. Find your copy of Steven's book: https://goo.gle/2RPrfxZ  Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.