Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Hardcover – Illustrated, February 13, 2018

Life is better than ever for most of humanity; despite a barrage of media that paints a dismal picture of life on Earth. Most of humanity would agree with Barack Obama’s 2016 view“…. if you had to choose blindly what moment you’d want to be born, you’d choose now.”[1] In “Enlightenment Now”, Stephen Pinker provides a quantitative assessment of how life has improved over the course of human history. He asserts: “…. I will show that this bleak assessment of the state of the world is wrong. …. I will present a different understanding of the world, grounded in fact and inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, science, humanism, and progress.”[2]The book starts with three chapters that explain the Enlightenment, some basic science, and the counter-Enlightenment. The majority of the books, seventeen chapters, deal with progress in life, health, sustenance, wealth, inequality, the environment, peace, safety terrorism, equal rights, knowledge, quality of life and happiness. The final three chapters deal with reason, science and humanism in our world.First, Pinker asks: What is the Enlightenment? He starts with Immanuel Kant’s 1784 definition:“Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own reason!" -- that is the motto of enlightenment.” [3]Of course, if the Enlightenment was so great, why aren’t all human problems solved? Pinker says:“And if you’re committed to progress, you can’t very well claim to have it all figured out. It takes nothing away from the Enlightenment thinkers to identify some critical ideas about the human condition and the nature of progress that we know and they didn’t. Those ideas, I suggest, are entropy, evolution, and information.”Pinker next explains entropy, evolution, and information. I found this chapter a bit hard to grasp. Perhaps my engineering background causes me to yearn for straightforward definitions. Let’s say that entropy is the tendency towards disorder (such as my office) and that energy is required to counteract entropy. A brief synopsis of Pinker’s description:[Entropy]“Living things are made of organs that have heterogeneous parts which are uncannily shaped and arranged to do things that keep the organism alive (that is, continuing to absorb energy to resist entropy).”[Evolution]“The replicating systems would compete for the material to make their copies and the energy to power the replication. Since no copying process is perfect—the Law of Entropy sees to that—errors will crop up, and though most of these mutations will degrade the replicator (entropy again), occasionally dumb luck will throw one up that’s more effective at replicating, and its descendants will swamp the competition.”“Information may be thought of as a reduction in entropy—as the ingredient that distinguishes an orderly, structured system from the vast set of random, useless ones.” [4]Here’s a summary of why we should care about entropy, evolution, and information:“Getting back to evolution, a brain wired by information in the genome to perform computations on information coming in from the senses could organize the animal’s behavior in a way that allowed it to capture energy and resist entropy. …. Energy channeled by knowledge is the elixir with which we stave off entropy, and advances in energy capture are advances in human destiny.” [5]Next chapter, there are some details of the counter-Enlightenment. Pinker provides four alternatives:1. Religious faith2. “People are the expendable cells of a superorganism…”3. [declinism] “One form of declinism bemoans our Promethean dabbling with technology.”4. [scientism] “… the intrusion of science into the territory of the humanities ….A brief summary of why the counter-Enlightenment should be transcended:“Our greatest enemies are ultimately not our political adversaries but entropy, evolution (in the form of pestilence and the flaws in human nature), and most of all ignorance—a shortfall of knowledge of how best to solve our problems.”[6]The majority of “Enlightenment Now” deals with progress in many areas of human life. Here are a few of my most significant findings from Pinker’s extensive research, supported by much data.[Sustenance]“ … in spite of burgeoning numbers, the developing world is feeding itself. Vulnerability to famine appears to have been virtually eradicated from all regions outside Africa.” . … “Famine as an endemic problem in Asia and Europe seems to have been consigned to history.” …“Once the secrets to growing food in abundance are unlocked and the infrastructure to move it around is in place, the decline of famine depends on the decline of poverty, war, and autocracy.” [7][Wealth] “Among the brainchildren of the Enlightenment is the realization that wealth is created. It is created primarily by knowledge and cooperation: networks of people arrange matter into improbable but useful configurations and combine the fruits of their ingenuity and labor. The corollary, just as radical, is that we can figure out how to make more of it.”…. “Also, technology doesn’t just improve old things; it invents new ones. How much did it cost in 1800 to purchase a refrigerator, a musical recording, a bicycle, a cell phone, Wikipedia, a photo of your child, a laptop and printer, a contraceptive pill, a dose of antibiotics? The answer is: no amount of money in the world. The combination of better products and new products makes it almost impossible to track material well-being across the decades and centuries. “ [8][Inequality]“Inequality is not the same as poverty, and it is not a fundamental dimension of human flourishing.”… “As globalization and technology have lifted billions out of poverty and created a global middle class, international and global inequality have decreased, at the same time that they enrich elites whose analytical, creative, or financial impact has global reach. The fortunes of the lower classes in developed countries have not improved nearly as much, but they have improved,….” [9][Environment]“The key idea is that environmental problems, like other problems, are solvable, given the right knowledge. …. humanity is not on an irrevocable path to ecological suicide.”“An enlightened environmentalism recognizes that humans need to use energy to lift themselves out of the poverty to which entropy and evolution consign them.” [10][Knowledge]“Homo sapiens, “knowing man,” is the species that uses information to resist the rot of entropy and the burdens of evolution. ….But some of the causal pathways vindicate the values of the Enlightenment. So much changes when you get an education!• They are less racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and authoritarian.• They place a higher value on imagination, independence, and free speech.For all these reasons, the growth of education—and its first dividend, literacy—is a flagship of human progress.” [11][The Future of Progress]“Ever since the Enlightenment and the invention of science, we’ve managed to create a tiny bit more than we’ve destroyed each year. But that few percent positive difference is compounded over decades into what we might call civilization. . . . [Progress] is a self-cloaking action seen only in retrospect. Which is why I tell people that my great optimism of the future is rooted in history.”Hans Rosling, who, when asked whether he was an optimist, replied, “I am not an optimist. I’m a very serious possibilist.” [12]The final part of “Enlightenment Now” explains the importance of reason, science, and humanism. Pinker makes a strong case for the use of reason in explaining the world. Here’s a brief selection of why reason matters:“Making reason the currency of our discourse begins with clarity about the centrality of reason itself.”“The human brain is capable of reason, given the right circumstances; the problem is to identify those circumstances and put them more firmly in place.”“People understand concepts only when they are forced to think them through, to discuss them with others, and to use them to solve problems. A second impediment to effective teaching is that pupils don’t spontaneously transfer what they learned from one concrete example to others in the same abstract category.” [13]Pinker advocates that science is the best tool humanity has to understand the world. Here is his explanation of what distinguishes science from other exercises of reason:“All the methods are pressed into the service of two ideals, and it is these ideals that advocates of science want to export to the rest of intellectual life.1. The first is that the world is intelligible.2. The second ideal is that we must allow the world to tell us whether our ideas about it are correct.When scientists are pressed to explain how they do this, they usually reach for Karl Popper’s model of conjecture and refutation, in which a scientific theory may be falsified by empirical tests but is never confirmed.” [14]The final chapter of the book is an explanation of humanism, why it matters, and how it should be substituted for religion in the modern world. Here are some of Pinker’s explanations of humanism:“Spinoza: “Those who are governed by reason desire nothing for themselves which they do not also desire for the rest of humankind.” Progress consists of deploying knowledge to allow all of humankind to flourish in the same way that each of us seeks to flourish. The goal of maximizing human flourishing—life, health, happiness, freedom, knowledge, love, richness of experience—may be called humanism.”“There is a growing movement called Humanism, which promotes a non-supernatural basis for meaning and ethics: good without God.”[15]Pinker addresses many of the deficits of religion in this chapter. It’s not really possible for me to synopsize all his arguments but here one quote that stuck in my mind:“To begin with, the alternative to “religion” as a source of meaning is not “science.” No one ever suggested that we look to ichthyology or nephrology for enlightenment on how to live, but rather to the entire fabric of human knowledge, reason, and humanistic values, of which science is a part.”[16]One issue I see, current representations of all of human knowledge aren’t in a holistic framework that cover “entire fabric of human knowledge” that’s accessible to most humanity. It would be useful to have an accessible form of humanism, the closest that I’m aware of are Unitarian Universalists.To summarize, “Enlightenment Now” makes a strong case, using data, references and cogent explanations, that life is improving for most of humanity. As Pinker asserts:“As always, the only way to know which way the world is going is to quantify.” [17]The author makes a strong case that reason and science are the root cause for the progress of human life across many dimensions. In contrast, while Pinker well explains the importance of humanism, in the end, I’m not sure how to truly put humanism into practice in my life and community. That said, “Enlightenment Now” is a profound and encouraging book. I agree with Pinker:“We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one. But there is no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing.” [18]Notes[1] As quoted in “Enlightenment Now”, Part III[2] “Enlightenment Now”, Preface.[3] Kant, Immanuel. "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" (Was istÄufklarung?), 30 September, 1784. Pinker translates the Latin “Sapere aude!” as “Dare to understand!” Instead of “Have courage to use your own reason!"[4] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 2. I’d note that the majority of living things are single cell organisms but that doesn’t change Pinker’s observation.[5] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 3.[6] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 3.[7] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 7.[8] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 8.[9] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 9.[10] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 10.[11] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 16.[12] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 20.[13] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 21.[14] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 22.[15] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 23.[16] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 23.[17] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 14.[18] “Enlightenment Now”, Chapter 23.

Wow ! an objective in depth mathematical analytical encyclopedic work analysis with a broad world perspective on how far we've come as humanity and the bounty of modern life the we all take for granted in our myopic little worlds and our imposed internet encasements. This book opens up the progressive product of generations of humans who have experimented, lost , won and survived to bring humanity to the excesses , safety and welfare of modern life that we fail to realize by our collective amnesia of how things were and how they have evolved . Best book I've read this year and recommend to all . Pinker claims that thanks to the primary multiverse treasure , human ingenuity , we are destine to infinity and Beyond ! as Buzz would say. So don't worry and be happy .

The author, Professor Pinker, began with the story that, after listening to one of his lectures, a student asked him the question “Why should I live?” Professor Pinker responded extemporaneously with a detailed three-paragraph answer containing the essential ideas of enlightenment. The student’s question, and his impromptu but erudite answer, may well be the inducement for Professor Pinker to embark on the writing of “Enlightenment Now”.Enlightenment refers to a movement which began in the 18th century. It stresses the belief that science and logic give people more knowledge and understanding than tradition and religion. A sister movement, called Humanism, whose principles affirm meaning and morality without invoking gods, spirits, or souls. These principles are compatible with some Eastern religions, including Confucianism and Buddhism which always grounded their ethics in human welfare rather than divine dictates. Over more than two centuries, enlightenment ideas in general and scientific knowledge in particular, have brought increases in life span, health, sustenance, abundance, peace, safety, freedom, equal rights, literacy, knowledge, intelligence, happiness, and opportunities. Such increases signify that there is progress in civilization.Yet, as the author points out, most of the world population is not aware or does not appreciate this immense progress. Indeed, newspapers, news outlets, commentators and editorial writers tend to concentrate on disasters and tragedies, as they attract attention. The general attitude is that a piece of good news is hardly newsworthy. Over time, the daily parade of bad news gives folks the impression that civilization has never faced greater peril. This misconception partially aided the rise of autocracies in several parts of the world, as well as the extreme right in the United States, which believed that the only way for progress is to tear down existing structures and rebuilding from the ruins. Enlightenment and Humanism ideas are also under attack by religious folks. The choice of reason over divine doctrine; knowledge over ignorance; and the emphasis of science on proof over fiction, are hard for these folks to swallow. It is not surprising that 81 percent of white evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2016.It is against the above background that the author undertakes to defend enlightenment ideas (reason, science and humanism). His arsenal includes commonsense arguments, deep historical as well as up-to-date knowledge, and above all, tons of data. There are 75 figures, showing the change over time of all types of human and societal data. Some examples: Life expectancy, Income gains, battle deaths, leisure time, childhood deaths from infectious diseases. Hopefully, after seeing these data, a skeptical reader will agree that there has been much progress, and progress will continue if we persist in the enlightenment ideas.Two examples of the accomplishments of science are worthy of highlighting: (a) Scientific knowledge eradicated smallpox, a painful and disfiguring disease which killed 300 million people in the 20th century alone. (b) We have, at our fingertips, virtually all the works of genius prior to our time, together with those of our own time, whereas the people who lived before our time had neither.Threats, especially existential threats, including climate change and nuclear wars, are carefully examined and discussed. It is the author’s opinion that some threats are figments of cultural and historical pessimism. Others are genuine, but we can treat them not as apocalypses in waiting but problems to be solved.Some of the authors’ arguments, while always erudite and well researched, are not easy to follow. Portions of the book are difficult to read. Examples are bringing the concept of entropy to the discussion of human affairs, and multiverse theory while defending humanism. It is probably safe to conjecture that readers who have limited knowledge of physics would have a hard time following these sections.Below are examples of some noteworthy knowledge I gained from reading the book, ranging from amusing to serious:- Science confirms politics wrecks your ability to do Math.”- Politics makes us stupid.”- In 1976, Mao single handedly and dramatically changed the direction of global poverty with one simple act: he died.”- The author challenged famed astronomer Sir Martin Rees’ prediction that “A bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event within a six-month period starting no later than Dec 31 2020”. This challenge resulted in the “long bet”, for $400, which will go to Givewell if either win. (https://longbets.org/9/) As of February 28, 2023, The bet is still unresolved, since it is not certain whether COVID 19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in which case it would count as an instance of "bioerror" and Rees would win the bet. There is an agreed upon resolution of how this uncertainty is to be resolved. By the end of February, 2023, the agreed upon resolution has not been met, although a report from the Department of Energy assessed that Covid 19 pandemic most likely emerged from a laboratory leak in China. (This assessment, however, was deemed “low confidence”.)In conclusion, the author presents authoritative arguments, supported by data, of the amazing role that enlightenment ideas played in bringing about the progress of human civilization. It is impossible not to agree with the statement by Barack Obama, quoted in the book, that “if you had to choose blindly what moment you’d want to be born, you’d choose now.”We are reminded by the author that It is the duty of every good citizen of the world to make sure that this progress continues into the future.Let me close by returning to the student’s profound question “Why should I live?”, mentioned at the beginning of the review. Professor Pinker’s answer, while extremely erudite and amply elaborated in “Enlightenment Now”, may be somewhat difficult for the student to fully comprehend and appreciate. I cannot resist the temptation to offe here a simpler answer to her question, based on a quote of Richard Feynman, slightly modified.Question: “Why should I live?”Answer: (Lower case letters are my additions; the CAPS are Feynman’s original words.)“NOBODY FIGURES OUT WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT, AND IT DOEN’T MATTER. You should live to EXPLORE THE WORLD. NEARLY EVERYTHING IS INTERESTING IF YOU GO INTO IT DEEP ENOUGH. With the knowledge and tools made available by science, the exploration should be extremely exciting and lots of fun.”

Super libre que si tienes que leerlo

I am now a fan of not just Steven Pinker, but his ability to present and process unbelievable amounts of data, and his ability to present a compelling and convincing perspective that completely shifts the dominant narrative on progress in the world. His perspective (and information) is not mainstream, but it should be!

I found Steven Pinker’s book to be a wonderful manifesto for the values of enlightenment, reason, science and humanism. It deserves to be standard text for all students of both politics and journalism. However... I am in agreement with another reviewer who also found the book inspiring but flawed. Professor Pinker has allowed himself to make the schoolboy error that the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit are both the product of right wing popularism. His grasp of UK and EU politics is woefully thin. The issue of Britain’s membership of the EU has never been a right versus left debate in British politics and cut right across the political divide for many years before the Brexit vote. Professor Pinker needs to acknowledge that US politics played no real part in the Brexit debate and the referendum predated Trumps election. Britain’s voted for a number of reasons to leave the EU, not least it’s increasing authoritarianism ( ask the Greeks about this). It’s many policies from the formation of a European army to giving huge grants to landowners just because they owned land (with no requirement to farm the land, nor indeed any requirement to be an EU citizen) to providing huge funds to support a repressive regime in Turkey ( not an EU member state) were increasingly seen as a betrayal of the liberal humanistic ideals that they professed. Professor Pinker rightly focusses on data not conjecture so please allow me to quote some data that he might like to consider. In 2016 nearly 52% of the population voted to leave the EU. The most vociferous campaigners for Brexit were the right wing populist party, UKIP. In the General Election of 2015, prior to Brexit referendum they polled 12.6% of the popular vote. So where did the remaining 40% needed for Brexit come from? Indeed, in the General Election of 2017, after the Brexit vote UKIP polled 1.8% of the popular vote. Hardly then a surge in right wing popularism in the UK. In the General Election of 2019 the middle ground of British politics, the Liberal Democrat’s stood on a platform that sought to deny the democratic process and reverse the result of the referendum. They were soundly trounced. Indeed, this was an echo of the EU Lisbon treaty which the Republic of Ireland rejected in a referendum only for the EU to force them to vote again. So, democracy is alive and well in the UK. We are not the USA. We are not in the thrall of Trump and the alt-right. Please could Steven Pinker correct this only real error in his book in the next edition.

One of my favorite bedtime stories as a kid was the story of Chicken Little. It's a very old folk tale about a little chick who was hit on the head by a falling acorn. The chick believed the world was coming to an end, and set out to warn the King."Despair springs eternal," as social and main stream media crank up their sky-is-falling examples and warnings of death, disaster, and destruction. But "news" rarely reports on all that's going right. ("I am reporting live from the airport as we watch the 89th plane today land safely." or "You're watching live a combine harvesting and threshing as much wheat in six minutes, as it took 25 men to do in one day 150 years ago.")Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, is a highly inspiring read that brings a strong dose of reality to the truly fake news of negativity and cynical hand wringing all around us. We live in the best times in the history of the world. In over six dozen graphs, Pinker provides powerful data showing how the pioneering leaders of late 18th Century enlightenment thinking is here now. We truly are living the dream.Health, wealth, safety, poverty, war, democracy, inequality, knowledge, quality of life, happiness, violence, and a long list of other conditions are on dramatic and progressive upward curves that show little sign of slowing down. Pinker notes, "In the year 2000, all 189 members of the United Nations, together with two dozen international organizations, agreed on eight Millennium Development Goals for the year 2015...And here is a shocker: The world has made spectacular progress in every single measure of human well-being. Here is a second shocker: Almost no one knows about it."This book is chock-full of powerful data, quotes, and insights. I filed over 130 of them in my digital research library. Here are a few points that especially stood out:• We often mistake problems around us for how low the world has sunk, rather than how high our standards have risen.• Rarely in history has well-being improved so dramatically, yet few people are aware of it.• Bad things often happen quickly and often dramatically. Good things unfold gradually with little fanfare.• Predicting the worst and end times has been the mark of prophets since Biblical times. Journalists and scholars are taken more seriously when they focus on what's wrong, and show these as symptoms of a sick society.• Psychological research shows we dread losses more than enjoy gains, dwell on setbacks more than savor successes, and are stung more by criticism than heartened by praise. The English language has many more words for negative than positive emotions.• Wealth is on a steady and dramatic rise across the world because of knowledge and cooperation. This has led to massive improvements in health and well-being around the globe.• Wealth creation is a major outcome of the Enlightenment. It comes from countries and large groups of people combining ingenuity and labor in unforeseeable and highly creative ways. The steady march of progress shows we can continue creating more of it.The rapid rise of populism today feeds off the dark side of human nature steeped in pessimistic wallowing. Following the well-worn path of ancient prophets of doom, cynical and manipulative leaders are capitalizing on fear and prejudice. They're determined to make the world unenlightened again, and take us back to a time when faith, dogma, authority, myopic ignorance, and gut feelings trumped science, humanism, reason, and progress.Enlightenment Now brings an uplifting context and perspective to just how far we've come. And the overwhelming odds are that progress will continue. Pinker opens the Progress section of his book with the words of Barack Obama:"If you had to choose a moment in history to be born, and you did not know ahead of time who you would be -- you didn't know whether you were going to be born into a wealthy family or a poor family, what country you'd be born in, whether you were going to be a man or a woman -- if you had to choose blindly what moment you'd want to be born, you'd choose now."To paraphrase Mark Twain, media reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. The sky isn't falling. It's just a few acorns.

Pinker faz ao longo de todo o livro não apenas uma defesa do Iluminismo, mas uma exposição da evolução da humanidade ao longo dos últimos 200 anos. Acima de tudo o livro mostra que as pessoas estão muito MELHORES HOJE que no passado, EM TODO O MUNDO, e não apenas o passado relativamente distante de 200 anos atrás, mas o passado recente, de 30-40 anos atrás.O autor apresenta a evolução de uma grande diversidade de indicadores, desde a expectativa de vida mundial, que por séculos (ou milênios) não ultrapassou os 40 anos, até meados do éculo XX, e a partir do século XXI ultrapassou os 70, passando pelo aumento do consumo de bens e serviços por toda a população, redução dos custos da energia e da emissão de CO2, até o aumento de horas de lazer e da felicidade.Tudo isso por meio da busca pela rezão, conhecimento e, a sistematização desses, ciência. A ciência que permitiu revoluções, econômicas, tecnológicas e sociais e o desenvolvimento a uma parcela cada vez maior da população mundial.Um texto esclarecedor, baseado na realidade, fatos, dados consistentes, que mostram que estamos no caminho certo, a despeito de alguns tropeços e passos para trás, como nas duas grandes guerras mundiais, e eventuais momentos de ascensão de líderes populistas e autoritários, que põem em xeque, normalmente com fundamentação enviesada, todo esse benefício à humanidade amplamente documentado ao longo de mais de dois séculos.Um livro a ser lido, citado e amplamente divulgado, especialmente nos tempos atuais, em que, em países como o Brasil, oportunistas e populistas, utilizam-se dos mais diversos, e duvidosos, argumentos para questionar os avanços provenientes da razão, da ciência e da democracia.Façam uma boa leitura e divulguem esse tratado ao progresso.