Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Pinker claims that many intellectuals don’t value progress and even scoff at the notion that gaining knowledge about the world can improve people’s lives. He references the many derogatory terms they use to describe proponents of Enlightenment thinking, such as “Pollyanna,” “naive optimist,” or “vulgar American can-doism” (39). Pessimism is commonplace in Western intellectual history; Nietzche, Benjamin, Sartre, Foucault, and other leading thinkers offered cynical analyses of society. This pessimism, which Pinker claims was once more limited to intellectuals, is now widespread throughout Western society. He cites various studies showing that people judge the economy, environment, crime rates, and other social problems as much worse than they really are, a phenomenon he calls the “Optimism Gap” (40).

The author attributes the optimism gap to the news media’s penchant for reporting negative stories and focusing on rare, sensational, and deadly events. He points out that media outlets tend to report recent negative events rather than following successful long-term projects. This encourages the “availability heuristic,” in which people consider something likelier if they can think of many examples of its happening. This leads to significant misestimations, such as the belief that tornadoes kill more people than asthma annually in the US. Pinker cites studies showing that frequent news consumers often feel anxious or fatalistic and significantly misperceive the risk of unfortunate events.