In explaining this Somalia-to-Sweden continuum, with poor violent repressive unhappy countries at one end and rich peaceful liberal happy ones at the other, correlation is not causation, and other factors like education, geography, history, and culture may play roles.60 But when the quants try to tease them apart, they find that economic development does seem to be a major mover of human welfare. If we were to surgically carve out the teensiest slice imaginable-say, one that was two inches at its widest point-it would be the size of the entire pie in 1700. If the pie we were dividing in 1700 was baked in a standard nine-inch pan, then the one we have today would be more than ten feet in diameter. Bush mangled it, “making the pie higher”). Many people lack the conceptual tools to ascertain whether progress has taken place or not the very idea that things can get better just doesn’t compute.ĭebates on economic distribution and growth often contrast dividing a pie with baking a larger one (or as George W. Optimism (in the sense that I have advocated) is the theory that all failures-all evils-are due to insufficient knowledge. My grade of the book: A+ (using the American grading system) - one of the best! Progress Whether he is right or wrong on some or all of the points, I believe it's a must-read as a very useful and, surprisingly unorthodox, perspective. I think we should have more of those! Don't you? As the title states, it's indeed 'The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress'. but what if he isn't? The message of this book is powerful and all-encompassing.

Enlightenment now