Enlightenment Now

Why it is worth your time

Enlightenment Now is Steven Pinker's 2018 case that life has improved on almost every measure and that reason, science and humanism are the cause. Pinker is a cognitive psychologist at Harvard. The book runs through about 75 charts on life expectancy, poverty, violence, literacy, safety and happiness, then argues against pessimism on both the left and the right. Friedberg named it on the Jul 7, 2022 episode and offered it to anyone looking for a good book. The fit is close. He argues on the podcast that science and markets solve problems doom forecasts miss, on food, energy and climate. Pinker's book is the long form of that view. It suits readers who want the data behind progress in 1 place. The caveat is that philosopher John Gray, in the New Statesman, argued Pinker's figures settle nothing and that his Enlightenment has little in common with the historical movement.