Steven Pinker: Things are Getting BETTER! (#148)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Was 2020 really the "worst year ever," as some would have us believe? Or are things getting better? Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has shown that poverty, pollution and other challenges are on the wane and we're doing better now in every one of a host of important metrics compared with 30 years ago. Yet progress isn't inevitable, and it doesn't mean everything gets better for all humans all the time, Pinker says. Instead, progress is problem-solving, and we should look at things like climate change, pandemics, and the threat of war as problems to be solved, not inevitable apocalypses in waiting. "We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one," he says. "But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing." Thanks to our sponsors! https://magbreakthrough.com/impossible http://betterhelp.com/impossible Topics Discussed: How his thinking on liberalism has changed in light of recent events Presumably it's still the antidote, but what nuances should we keep in mind For example, free speech is sacrosanct, but with today's technology, "lies get halfway around the world before the truth can tie its laces." The gatekeepers to the public square are increasingly concentrated. Technology/social media exacerbate this issue What should we do? Advice to young adults How to navigate these dynamics Career considerations His thoughts on capitalism, e.g., Coca Cola, MLB, Delta protesting Georgia; Dr. Seuss; What about our current situation reconfirms his views? What has caused a rethink? What does he believe that nobody else does? What is he most hopeful about? Most concerned about? Get Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress https://amzn.to/3eV6Vs2 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Michael Saylor The Physics of Bitcoin https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔥 Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating 📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 📧Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 👪Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize 🎙️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2 🎙️Listen on all other platforms: https://wavve.link/into A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	He is the Harvard Professor,
0:03.6	Psychology Professor whose newsseller is Enlightenment
0:06.3	Now the case for reason, science, humanism, and progress.
0:09.2	Stephen Pinker!
0:11.6	Many people face the news each morning with trepidation and dread.
0:16.0	You can always fool yourself into seeing a decline if you compare leading headlines of the present
0:22.0	with rose-tinted images of the past.
0:25.0	But there are roadmaps to decarbonizing the economy that we have to implement and
0:29.9	accelerate. They include both policy measures like a carbon tax so that every economic decision that everyone on the planet makes factors in the damage to the government.
0:39.5	That's the thing. There is no carbon check. Let's start.
0:43.0	Life is better than death.
0:45.0	Health is better than sickness.
0:47.0	Abundance is better than want.
0:49.0	Freedom is better than coercion.
0:52.0	Happiness is better than suffering. And knowledge is better than
0:53.2	than suffering and knowledge is better than ignorance and superstition.
0:57.4	Hi everybody today's episode features none other than
1:00.4	Harvard University professor Dr. Stephen Pinker who is a phenomenal
1:06.3	intellect he is really one of these public intellectuals he's a philosopher he's a
1:10.4	psychologist he is a rational thinker He is a rational thinker. He is a humanist and we got into all sorts of topics and more in today's episode. I think you're really going to enjoy it. I hope that if you do you'll you'll leave a rating a review and let me know what you think about
1:24.3	these podcasts wherever you're watching or listening to them please subscribe to my
1:27.8	newsletter at Brian Keating.com most of my guests subscribe there and I get to keep in touch with them and who knows you couldn't find a better
	...

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