Channel 4 News
Now is the best time to be alive. You might not think so with populists on the march across Europe, wars raging around the world and an unfolding refugee crisis. But the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker claims our life is actually getting better. Matt Frei met him at the ‘How The Light Gets In’ philosophy festival.
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The modern Professor Pangloss.
Soros network and his Jewish Professor are doing propaganda for abolishing Europeans. #experiment
We solve one problem and it opens a host of other problems. The never ending fight between nature and its babies will continue.
I wonder if Mr Frei realises how the narratives he himself has taken on board are contributing to the strength of his opposition to Trump and Brexit, and to his apparent unthinking conviction that 'Trump supporters' as a whole are both misguided and unable to accept alternative views. Perhaps those matters are also open to a more positive approach, or at least a less negative one.
Steven Pinker is brilliant, he's not saying we shouldn't be dismayed by problems we still have, he's saying we should take a moment to reflect how far we've come.
It is true that life has gotten significantly better compared to the past. The reason why some say it hasn't is partly a result of social media delivering fast paced false news. We concentrate on being victims more than any other historical epoch but at the same time boast about how good our lives are via instagram amongst many other platforms. 21st century is best summed up as a humanity 'most paradoxical existence'.
The eternal argument between the doomie gloomies and the sunny-bunnys…
Steven Pinker has consistently ignored the devastating effects of Western Imperialism on the middle East.
I could watch Pinkle for hours.
This man is an apologist for the status quo and ignores the world outside of his cushy privileged position. It's these kind of blinkered old white guys that we really need to start ignoring.
Dr Pinker ignores that all these collective profits come at great costs. Just to name a few…
1. the dismantling of pre-modern modes of cultural living & understanding (in the 1st world, as well as the 3rd world)
2. the destruction of the natural world
3. the evaporation of any chance for meaningful self-government
4. the increasing likelihood of nuclear destruction
5. The increasing commodification of nearly everything
His metrics for arguing that things are getting better rests on liberal views exclusively, which boils down to little more than the wider availability of material resources.
Getting better for his tribe perhaps. Not for other people.
This man is just literally a liar and a fraud. You can twist statistics in any possible number of ways to achieve your desired result.
We pull opinions Of the shelve …….what an idiot. No what happens is we are told what to think and when to think it
…….Did I HEAR correctly?…Did this supposed “reporter” put the millions of Brits who voted for BREXIT in the SAME category as German voters, who voted in the National Socialists in 1933?….(To his credit, the author stared at him, as if he had gone quite mad, for a moment)…..Moron.
muslims invading Europe, Fiat currencies declining, Wars all over the Middle east and the rich getting richer
We are not interested in things going well for us, we just end up taking them for granted and there in lies the problem
No thats not true. What is true is that we are educated to think nothing can get better and infact learn to expect that it will get worst …but just make sure you blame no one but who we point a finger at (to day that is a muslin tomorrow it will be the poor etc)
Inequality is at an all time high. This guy is talking drivel.
Oh it is. Paris is litter free
Clearly this man has never read YouTube comments.
These lads with unique hair are always right. Bad news travel faster then good ones. ??
Is he related to Horace Pinker?
The world is heading towards the worst period in all its history, the great tribulation.
Looks like one of those scientists its alive.
We'll can languish in positivity all we like, but as far as the planet is concerned, it's pay back time.
Sounds arm chair AF.
Everything is getting better? Lol! Last Time I checked the biosphere was dying.
Planetary extinction is “getting better”? Ok Mr Smarty Pants.
This comment section is full of shitty people and trolls.
Don't read these comments, read the book. It's an enlightening book.
And I was very…VERY….drunk!
Shame on the channel 4 news.Subliminal messages or is it a schizophrenia weapon at work.Its scandalous that a torture weapon would be practiced on a British man.To steal a human life by psychological means.
As so often is the case the elephant in the room is global warming, the greatest threat humanity has faced in our 200,000 year existence. Pinker needs to get his facts in order of importance.
World is getting better. Some of us try to make things much better while some of us just exploit that opportunity. If it wasn't for those idiots, things would have been way way better.
This comment section is absolutely chock full of idiots who clearly haven't read a single page of Pinker's book, let alone ANY books.