Enlightenment Now
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science
application to wealth creation, 82–3, 94–5
beauty and, 34, 260, 386, 407–8, 433–4
climate change, consensus on, 137–8, 464n45
collaboration in, 64, 409
cosmopolitan virtues of, 409
definition of, 9, 391–3
depth of achievements of, 385–7
doubt as first principle of, 390
and errors and prejudices, discrediting own, 391
heroes of, 63–4
ideals of, 27, 387–8, 390, 392–3, 409
methods of, 10, 390, 392
naïveté of scientists on policy, 390–91
national boundaries transcended by, 387–8, 409
nuclear war activism by scientists, 308–310
nuclear weapons as indictment of, 308
and political correctness, accusations of, 138
political ideology in scientists, 138, 356–8, 372
and “scientific method,” as term, 392
science, disdain for, 33–4, 387, 389–90, 395, 408–9
and bioethics, 402
as bipartisan, 388–9
cultural sophistication and, 17
faitheism and, 430
history of science and, 395–6
and Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 395, 486n21
left-wing repression, 373, 388
medical progress and, 63
right-wing politicians and, 387–8
“science studies” and, 396
Second Culture paranoia about, 389–90, 409
university general education, 400–401
See also intellectuals; scientism
—EVILS BLAMED ON SCIENCE, 388–9, 397, 400
eugenics, 388, 399–400
Holocaust, 397
nuclear weapons, 308–310
racism and imperialism, 34, 388, 397–8, 399, 486n32
Social Darwinism, 388, 398–9, 486nn36–37
Tuskegee syphilis study, 401
science of man, 10
Scientific Revolution, 8, 9–10, 24, 326
scientism, 34, 388, 389, 390, 392, 395. See also science, disdain for
Scott, James, 12
Scott, Robert, 9–10, 180–81
sea level rise, 137, 138
Second Culture (Snow), 33–4, 389–90, 456n12. See also humanities; intellectuals; Two Cultures
Second Law of Thermodynamics, 15–18
misunderstood by creationists, 19
pollution and, 123
progress and, 344
See also Entropy, Law of
secularization, 435–6, 489nn65,68
affluence and education and, 435–6
cohort effect, 437–8
and fertility of religious believers, 436, 489n70
period effect, 436–7
quality of life and, 438–9, 490n84
United States and, 436, 437–8, 439, 489n75
voter turnout and, 438
secular stagnation. See economic stagnation
security dilemma (Hobbesian trap), 164, 173, 315
Seinfeld, Jerry, 374
Selin, Ivan, 148
Semmelweis, Ignaz, 63
Sen, Amartya, 245, 248, 264, 265, 442
Senegal, 203
Sennett, Richard, 456n1
September 11, 2001, attacks
conspiracy theories about, 336, 358
high death toll of, 193, 194, 194
resilience of people and, 305–6
success of, as uncommon, 303
as theater, 196
uptick in anti-Islam hate crimes and, 219, 220
used as analogy in dystopian rhetoric, 343, 449
Serbia, 203
Serengeti wilderness park, 123
service organizations, 287, 432, 450
Seven Years’ War, 484n77
sewerage, 63, 67
sex differences
anxiety, 285
depression, 476n74
educational parity, 239–40
happiness, 284, 285
suicide rates, 278, 279
See also sexism; women
sexism, 214–15
definition of, 214
education of girls and women and, 239–40, 239
Internet searches, as index of, 217–19, 218
public opinion in the U.S., 216–17, 216
romantic heroism and, 444
See also equal rights; sex differences; women
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (film), 286
Shakespeare, William, 433
shaming campaigns, global, 222, 443
Shapiro, Scott, 163–4
sharing economy, 135
Shaw, George Bernard, 287, 341, 400, 446, 447
Shellenberger, Michael, 122, 141–2, 147
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 295
Shermer, Michael, 455n10, 457n32, 458nn19,21, 464n45, 471n3, 472n26, 487n63, 488n34
Sheskin, Mark, 101–2
Shiite Muslims, 162
Shtulman, Andrew, 356
Shultz, George, 316, 319
Sidgwick, Henry, 487n5
Sierra Club, 465n76
Sierra Leone, 238, 238
Sikkink, Kathryn, 207
Silent Generation, 225
emancipative values and, 226
and populism, 341–2, 342
secularization and, 43
suicide and, 280
Silicon Valley, quest for immortality, 60
Silver, Nate, 339, 367
Simmel, Georg, 165
Simon, Julian, 126
Simon, Paul, 284
Simon & Garfunkel, 257
Simpson, Wallis, 270
Sinatra, Frank, 218, 265–6
Sinclair, Upton, 186
Singapore, 85, 85, 171, 207, 457n8
Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 284
Singer, Peter, 429
Sino-Japanese War, 484n77
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson, 91
slavery
abolition of, 11
arguments defending, as corrected errors, 408–9
historical ubiquity of racism and, 397
utilitarianism and laws against, 417
smallpox, 64–5, 386
smartphones, 94–5, 257, 331
Smith, Adam
and human psychology, 8–9, 353
on market exchange, 83
on paradox of value, 82
and poverty as default human condition, 25
on real price as the trouble of acquisition, 253
and self-interest working for common good, 13
on specialization, 12–13
Smith, Lamar, 387
Smith, Logan Pearsall, 328
smoke and fire deaths, 182–3, 182
Smokey the Bear, 183
Snopes (Web site), 260
Snow, C. P.
on disdain for science, 17
on factory vs. farm work, 92–3, 446
on First and Second Cultures, 33–4, 389–90, 456n12
and nuclear disarmament, 308, 309
on science as a moral imperative, 34
Third Culture, 390, 486n13
The Two Cultures, 33–4, 389
Snow, John, 63
social capital, 235
social comparison/status anxiety, 99–100, 263
social contract, 12, 27–8, 31, 412, 413
Social Darwinism, 388, 398–9, 486nn36–37
social isolation. See social support vs. isolation
“social justice warriors,” 31, 373, 375
social media
as boon to human closeness, 256–7
and dematerialization, 135
and leisure/family time, 255, 256
and loneliness, 274, 275–7
See also Internet
social psychology, 100, 373, 407. See also cognitive biases; happiness; moral sense; psychology; racism
Social Security, 109, 251
social spending, 107–110
as compatible with capitalism, 365, 483nn39,42
Egalitarian Revolution, 107
hidden welfare state (U.S.), 115, 116, 119
increase over time, 107–8, 108, 109–110
and inexorable change, 109
pre-capitalist, 107
Reagan/Thatcher ideology against, 110
redistribution/welfare state, 108–9
as reducing inequality and poverty, 107–110, 115–16
Trump and, 334
universal basic income, 119
as universal in developed nations, 110, 115
Wagner’s Law and, 109–110
and well-being, 108, 110, 365, 483nn39,42
social support vs. isolation
constancy of, over time, 274–5, 475n46
as factor in happiness, 271
loneliness, decreasing, 275–7, 276
perception of increasing isolation, 274, 277
Socrates, 58, 59, 212, 428
Sokov, Nikolai, 316
Somalia, 65, 73
Sontag, Susan, 376–7, 447, 456n1, 484n77
soul, immaterial
vs. activity of brain, 22, 422, 427–8
hard problem of consciousness, 427, 428
mental life attributed to, 22
religions valuing, above lives, 30, 429, 433
religious wars and, 429
as testable hypothesis, 422
South Africa, 98, 172, 313, 419
South and Central America
carbon emissions of, 144
democratization and, 200, 203
drug-fueled violence in, 175
education in, 236–8, 237–8
emancipative values in, 227, 227
happiness in, 271
homicide rates and concentrations in, 172, 173–4
IQ gains in, 241
life expectancy in, 53–4, 54, 55
military juntas of, 200
personal violence, deaths from, 167
undernourishment in, 72
See also individual countries
South and Southeast Asia
Communist governments in Southeast Asia, 200
education in, 236–8, 237–8
emancipative values in, 227, 227
undernourishment in, 72
South Korea
child mortality and, 56
conflict with North Korea, 158
escape from poverty of, 85, 85, 90
GDP of, 85
human rights in, 208, 208
military government of, 200
nuclear power and, 148
suicide and, 278
South Sudan, 73, 160, 236
Soviet Union
Afghanistan invasion by, 439
atheism of, 430
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, 146
collapse of, 90, 200–201
and economic inequality, 98
former republics, emancipative values in, 227
multiethnic neighbors, peacefulness of, 405
Nietzsche as influence on, 445
nuclear arms race of 1960s and, 291, 313
quality of life and, 247
and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 419
and World War II, 314, 430
See also Cold War; nuclear war; Russia
Sowell, Thomas, 447, 450, 459nn4,32, 460n33, 461nn5,18, 462n47, 467n9, 483n43, 484n55, 487n55, 491n115
Soyinka, Wole, 261
Spain, 200, 234, 341, 481n32, 489n68
Spanish-American War (1898), 376
Spanish flu pandemic (1918–19), 55, 306
Sparky the Fire Dog, 183
Spectator, The, 34
Spencer, Herbert, 399
Spengler, Oswald, 165
Sperber, Dan, 380
Spinoza, Baruch, ix, 8, 410
conatus (effort or striving), 19, 453
and irrationality of humans, 8–9, 353
and reason, ix, 353, 410, 412, 421
P. G. Wodehouse and, 446
spirituality, 433–5
sports
Moneyball, 381
politics similar to, 359, 360, 366, 381, 383
Springsteen, Bruce, 284
Sri Lanka, 160, 203, 278
Stalin, Joseph, 78, 161, 203, 313, 445, 447
Starmans, Christina, 101–2
Star Trek, 427
Stein’s Law, 61, 241, 283, 327
Davies’s Corollary, 61, 327
Stenger, Victor, 423
Stephan, Maria, 405
Stephens-Davidowitz, Seth, 217–18, 339–40, 471n13, 482n44
Stern, Charlotta, 373
Stevenson, Betsey, 269, 270
stoves, cooking, 117, 144, 183, 251, 252
Strauss, Leo, 491n118
Stuxnet worm, 304
Subbiah, Ilavenil, xix
subjectivity
hard problem of consciousness and, 425, 426–8, 488n43
reason and, 351–2, 390
Sudan, 72, 73, 89, 160, 161, 162
suicide, 277–80
age, cohort, and period analyses, 278, 279
cohorts and, 279–80, 476n74
decreasing rates of, 277–80, 279, 476n74
as “self-murder,” 278
sex differences in, 278, 279
Sweden’s high rate of, as urban myth, 264, 280
See also mental health and illness
Sullivan, James X., 116
Sultan, Wafa, 443
Summers, Lawrence, 67, 328, 461n8, 462nn62,65, 480n9, 490n106
Supreme Court, U.S., 212–13, 214–15, 374
sustainability, 127–9, 141
Sutherland, Rory, 135
Sweden
child mortality and, 55, 56
depression and, 282
emancipative values in, 225–7, 226, 227
fallacious pessimism and, 53
famine in, 68
happiness ranking of, 475n30
maternal mortality in, 57, 58
nuclear power and, 148
per capita income of, 86
populism and, 341
secularization and, 436, 437, 489n68
social spending in, 108
suicide rate in, 263–4, 280
traffic death rates in, 178
Swift, Jonathan, 74–5, 162
Switzerland, 271, 278–9, 279, 475n30, 489n68
Syed, Muhammad, 443
sympathy (benevolence, compassion), 11
cosmopolitanism and, 221
humanism and, 415
and infectious disease improvement, 67
the meaning of life and, 3–4
pessimism and expanding circle of, 49
for the poor, 107
and psychopathology, awareness of, 282
standard-of-living improvements and, 34
syphilis, 306, 401
Syria
civil war in, 49, 159, 160, 335
happiness ranking of, 475n30
terrorist deaths in, 193
Szilard, Leo, 308
Taiwan, 85, 85, 200
Taliban, 67, 240
Tan, Amy, 284
Taoism, 23, 204
taxes
carbon tax, 139, 145–6, 149
economic freedom compatible with, 365, 483nn39,42
libertarians and, 364–5
poverty mitigated by, 107, 115–16
Trump and, 335
Taylor, Paul, 340
Taylor, Theodore, 308
technology
advance of, and paradox of value, 82, 117, 332–3
and climate change, 143–5, 150, 153–4
and creation of wealth, 83, 94–5
delay in productivity growth due to, 330
dematerialization and, 135, 136, 332
democratization of platforms for, 332
demonetization and, 332–3
digital, Flynn effect and mastery of, 244
donated as foreign aid, 95
doomsday prophecies and, 293–4
for environmental protection, 124, 128–30, 132–6, 134–6
future advances in, 330–32
knowledge growth as exponentiated by, 233
mobile phones/smartphones, 94–5, 257, 331
nuclear power, 148–50
productivity dependent on, 328
science applied to, 82–3
Second Machine Age, 330–32
social embeddedness of, 302
technophilanthropists, 332
Trump and, 335
See also artificial intelligence (AI); consumer products; existential threats; Internet; safety; social media
teenagers
depression and, 476n74
drug use declining among, 184–5, 229
transgressive Web searches by, 218
Tegmark, Max, 308, 425
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 418
teleological systems, 21–2
telephone, 94–5, 257, 331
Terminator (films), 296
terrorism and terrorists, 191–8
Availability and Negativity biases, 42, 195, 302, 307, 404
bioterrorism, 300–302, 305, 306–7
civil wars as primary locations of, 193
cyber-sabotage, 300–302, 304–6, 335
historical trends, 193–5
media responses to curtail, 197–8
motives of killers, 196
nation-states’ reactions to, 197–8
nuclear terrorism, 197, 310–311, 313–14
number of potential competent, 302–5
objective assessment of threat, 195–7
panic as risk of, 191, 195, 197
right-wing American terrorism, 194, 196, 469n10
safety of society as enhancing threat of, 197, 198
success, lack of, 196–7, 198, 303–4, 404
See also hate crimes; rampage shootings; September 11, 2001, attacks
—DEATHS FROM
double-counted as war deaths, 193
number of, 192–5, 192, 194–5, 194, 469n10
vs. other causes, 191–2, 192, 193
Tetlock, Philip, 367–71, 373, 378–9, 404
Texas, capital punishment in, 211