I haven't read Pinker's book, but I've read Tolstoy recently.
Tolstoy doesn't present any data or historical evidence, just shares his deep intuitive wisdom.
He predicted the rise of communism and the world wars, but also inspired Ghandi and Martin Luther King and many others...
.
And at times it's really scary how much similarity there exists between the popular ideas back then (which he discusses) and the ideas of today.
The almost fanatic belief in human superiority over nature, the power of Reason, the scientific method, the powerful religious groups, the armies, the police, the banks..
One would think that after 2 world wars and countless experimentation with social order and extreme technological advancement, we would have evolved to a higher level of thinking.
But no, there are some principles which stay the same. We still eat, we still drink, we still hate, we still love.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." The Little Prince.
All woo-woo aside, ooshy gooshy feelings won't get us to the moon, cure cancer, decrease childhood diseases, or feed a billion people with the land usually used to only feed 10,000.
Sure I pretty much entirely agree with you but the caution I stated earlier is the notable one for that mindset. There's always a step where you have to decide what the data means.
I disagree. A long term plan can be extracted from data, the physical constraints of the world, and knowledge of the human condition. The hype of a great leader, messiah, or single white man at a podium, is totally overrated. If it weren't we would have already run into one that cured all our ills.
Tolstoy doesn't present any data or historical evidence, just shares his deep intuitive wisdom.
He predicted the rise of communism and the world wars, but also inspired Ghandi and Martin Luther King and many others... .
And at times it's really scary how much similarity there exists between the popular ideas back then (which he discusses) and the ideas of today. The almost fanatic belief in human superiority over nature, the power of Reason, the scientific method, the powerful religious groups, the armies, the police, the banks..
One would think that after 2 world wars and countless experimentation with social order and extreme technological advancement, we would have evolved to a higher level of thinking.
But no, there are some principles which stay the same. We still eat, we still drink, we still hate, we still love.