Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead?

The Munk Debates

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, History
Cover of the book Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead? by Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton, Malcolm Gladwell, House of Anansi Press Inc
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Author: Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton, Malcolm Gladwell ISBN: 9781487001698
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc Publication: June 7, 2016
Imprint: House of Anansi Press Language: English
Author: Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton, Malcolm Gladwell
ISBN: 9781487001698
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Publication: June 7, 2016
Imprint: House of Anansi Press
Language: English

Progress. It is one of the animating concepts of the modern era. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that human civilization has become different, not better, over the last two and a half centuries. What is seen as a breakthrough or innovation in one period becomes a setback or limitation in another. In short, progress is an ideology not a fact; a way of thinking about the world as opposed to a description of reality.

In the seventeenth semi-annual Munk Debates, which was held in Toronto on November 6, 2015, pioneering cognitive scientist Steven Pinker and bestselling author Matt Ridley squared off against noted philosopher Alain de Botton and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell to debate whether humankind’s best days lie ahead.

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Progress. It is one of the animating concepts of the modern era. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that human civilization has become different, not better, over the last two and a half centuries. What is seen as a breakthrough or innovation in one period becomes a setback or limitation in another. In short, progress is an ideology not a fact; a way of thinking about the world as opposed to a description of reality.

In the seventeenth semi-annual Munk Debates, which was held in Toronto on November 6, 2015, pioneering cognitive scientist Steven Pinker and bestselling author Matt Ridley squared off against noted philosopher Alain de Botton and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell to debate whether humankind’s best days lie ahead.

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