On meliorism--the belief in progress

Jeffrey R Franz-Lien -

Meliorism is the notion that human progress is real and leads to betterment of the world. In other words, we humans, by applying our intellect and the better angels of our nature, are capable of improving upon the natural world.

Enter Steven Pinker, Harvard professor, author, and meliorist who keeps writing insufferably optimistic books. In Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker reminds us that, statistically speaking, the world is becoming a better place. Life expectancy and education are increasing. The food supply is becoming more plentiful and stable. War and violence have dropped dramatically since World War II. Of course, the news is constantly showing us evidence to the contrary. But the news, says Pinker, is only a collection of our most sensational experiences, not average reality.

Poppycock! says John Gray, English philosopher, pessimist, and Steven Pinker critic. To him, Pinker's conclusions are delusional, based on selective data. After all, the twentieth century was the bloodiest one in human history, aided by great advances in killing technology. Pinker's childlike fixation on wartime body-count ignores factors that don't support his optimism including:

  • millions that perished from starvation and disease due to brutal treatment during the Stalinist and Maoist regimes,
  • direct warfare between superpowers replaced with countless, endless proxy wars,
  • near misses like the Cuban Missile Crisis that reduce the reason for our continued existance to dumb luck.

If you're interested in learning more, feel free to wade into the data: https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace. Personally, I find both Gray and Pinker interesting, just not enough to get bothered over which one is right. After all, I'm a pragmatist, driven to change the world, not gaze into its navel. If Pinker is right, there may be hope, though not enough that we can rest easy. If Gray is right, maybe we are doomed. But as Sun Tzu tells us, doomed soldiers fight harder.

Further Reading:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining