Monday, June 3, 2019

Steven Pinker: Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018)

Humanity spent its first hundred thousand years eking out a bare existence in a hostile and unforgiving environment. Thousands of generations led the same nasty, brutish and short lives. Although inventing agriculture was a major game changer, a farmer from 4000 BC Mesopotamia would still easily recognize his 1500 AD peer as equal in most ways. Then around 300 years ago something happened that opened the lid on human creativity, which unleashed a might-bending wave of progress, unbroken and accelerating ever since. The turning point is known as the Enlightenment.



In the first part of the book Pinker goes through the main achievements of the last three centuries, supported by 70-odd graphs of statistical data. Education, life expectancy, literacy, sustenance, health, safety, human rights,...virtually by all metrics that count, the data proves that we live incredibly better than our ancestors. Not only better than our great-great-grandfathers but better than our parents' generation, too. The natural blips and short-term fallbacks notwithstanding, the trends don't seem to stop anytime soon. The magnitude of improvement is so staggering, and the changes are so encompassing, that as the economist Robert Lucas put it, "...once one starts to think about them, it's hard to think about anything else".

Why does such an "optimist" view of the world go against not only the everyday experience of the man of the street but the shared consensus of intellectuals as well? Pinker lays the blame squarely at the feet of journalism, ideologies, poseurism and the inherent cognitive biases of the human species. Newspapers never run headlines as "100,000 airplanes didn't crash yesterday!", and Western intelligentsia has always favored the grim satisfaction over our fast approaching demise over the uninspiring acknowledgment of slow and steady progress. Stern pessimists are viewed as serious thinkers. Harbingers of hope as naive kids, inexperienced in the ways of the world.

Public debates are mostly driven by ideologies and the defense of scientific worldview is often downright apologetic, so it puts a grin on the face of our inner nerd when someone finally has the guts to stand up and say - in the words of the late Hans Rosling, famous proponent of fact-checking - "The facts are not up for debate. I am right and you are wrong".

In the second part, Pinker presents the three tenets of Enlightenment: Humanism, Reason, and Science. By making his case for them - and explaining why such an act is needed at all -, he addresses the surprisingly anti-scientific stance of the mainstream discourse and the traditional opponents of Humanism and Reason - theists and Nietzsche-inspired romantics. Many interesting side-topics are covered, like the alt-right, Trumpism, difficulties of forecasting, the role of experts, the stifling effect of political correctness, postmodernism, the challenges of teaching critical thinking, climate change, misunderstanding of science. And with grace and style, Pinker makes the impression of telling a lot with minimal effort from the reader and himself.

The fury the book unleashed was remarkable, but not unforeseen. Facts don't care about feelings, thus Pinker aptly managed to offend both the Right and the Left. The former loathing atheism, the reality of climate change and evolution, the latter feeling insulted by the idea that people actually live much better than they used to. What both sides share is the admiration for the grim sage wagging his finger against the moral nihilism of modern times, and the disdain for and misconception of science.

Like Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker comes in the not very long line of scientists who write like poets. This is one of the rare books where the style is worthy of the lofty substance. Despite its depth and breadth, Enlightenment Now is a page-turner. Pinker's deep insights, cutting criticism, and even the most mundane explanation of a graph are presented in magnificent prose written by a master of the craft. His voice is eloquent, witty and crystal clear, making complex questions look like no-brainers. Like a great professor, he inspires, entertains and educates at the same time. An important book from an important man.

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