Why Pessimism Sounds Smart

We are suffering just now from a bad attack of economic pessimism. It is common to hear people say that the epoch of enormous economic progress which characterized the nineteenth century is over; that the rapid improvement in the standard of living is now going to slow down—at any rate in Great Britain; that a decline in prosperity is more likely t

When you realize how much progress humans can make during a lifetime in everything from economic growth to medical breakthroughs to stock market gains to social equality, you would think optimism would gain more attention than pessimism. And yet.

There are many aspects of life that pull us in opposing directions. We need to be pessimistic enough to prepare for bad outcomes but optimistic enough to undertake new projects. We need to see people both as enmeshed in systems that push them around and as free agents shaping their own lives. It’s vital to be skeptical and ask questions, but also t

are. In Steven Pinker’s eye-opening book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, he tackles these assumptions head-on. Of our fears that the world is getting less safe, less predictable, less hospitable, he claims: