The Better Angels of our Nature: A case for optimism and reason
Yesterday, 137,000 people escaped from extreme poverty. That could have been the headline in The Times, or the Parikiaki, every day, for the last 25 years. Why wasn’t it?
Every day, when we click on the news, we read stories about terrorism, war, inequality, crime, racism, pollution, pandemics and fraud. It can feel like the world is spiralling out of control.
Enlightenment Now
News is about what happens. Not what doesn’t happen. Bad is psychologically stronger than good.
And even though bad news has increased over time, this does not reflect the objective stated of the world. Let’s read the data.
(1) For most of human history, life expectancy hovered around 30 years. Today it is over 80 years for the developed world and 70 for the rest of the world.
(2) Two hundred years ago, only 10% of the world’s population lived above the poverty line or could read. Today, it’s more than 85%.
(3) Fewer people are dying in wars, and fewer dying of starvation.
Paying attention to the hard cold facts, and recognising human progress, changes your view of the world. Such is the prevalence of misinformation and rumours and fake news, that the BBC has created a post of Disinformation Correspondent, currently filled by the excellent Marianna Spring.
Act now
If we want to change the world, there are a few steps to take.
1. Be humble: none of us is infallible, we have to learn from our mistakes.
2. Have some rational confidence: many things have become better, thanks to the confidence of many people in the past. That should embolden us to try to solve the formidable problems facing us now.
3. Have a problem-solving mind-set: don’t begin by looking at who to blame, who the evildoers are, whose fault it is. Things naturally fall apart. Problems are inevitable, but they’re solvable.
The absence of number 3 is one of the main reasons why the parties of the left are perennially losing elections. They appeal to the ‘Young Adult’ demographic group, that has idealism untarnished with experience. If only people aged between 18 and 24 had voted in the general election, the UK Labour party would have won an enormous majority. No doubt this is partly because of its promise to abolish student tuition fees and the difficulties young people face in the housing and jobs markets. But their support is also a by-product of beliefs and values they have absorbed at school and university. According to the progressive ideology that has been instilled in them, the West is uniquely malignant, the ultimate source of injustice and oppression throughout the world, and Western power and values essentially illegitimate.
And yet, it is these same values and powers that have lifted the world out of extreme poverty. In 1990, the UN set within its Millennium Development Goals a target to “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger” by the year 2015. Specifically, to halve the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day, and who suffer from hunger. This goal was met ten years ahead of plan, in 2005.
Countless research studies have shown and proven what we instinctively know, and the numbers don’t lie – it’s not the rich, privileged, healthy or good-looking who are happy; it is those who have friends, community bonds, religion, purpose, and challenging, meaningful work.
Source: The books and interviews of Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. “Why does the left keep losing”, by John Gray, January 2020, New Statesman.
(Picture: Steven Pinker)
James Neophytou
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