Boston Book Festival 2018

Some people think we are living through the worst of times, but Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist at Harvard University, believes we are living in the best of times and he has the statistics to prove it. In his NYT bestseller Enlightenment Now, which Bill Gates has called his “new favorite book of all time,” Pinker shows that life is better for the majority of humans on earth by almost any measure: health, prosperity, safety, even happiness. He credits this remarkable progress to the Enlightenment belief that science and reason can help us think our way out of most things. But, he cautions, the values of the Enlightenment are under threat from the darker side of human nature: authoritarianism, tribalism, religious zealotry, and magical thinking. Join us as Steven Pinker presents his vigorous defense of the Enlightenment values of science, humanism, and reason. After his talk, Pinker will be interviewed by the enlightened and enlightening Robin Young, host of WBUR’s Here & Now.