I Have to Ask

I Have to Ask: The Steven Pinker Edition

The author of Enlightenment Now thinks the world is getting better—but we refuse to acknowledge it.

Steven Pinker.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Rebecca Goldstein/Wikimedia Commons.

Steven Pinker is the author of the new book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. He sits down with Isaac Chotiner to discuss why he thinks life is improving despite the worldwide rise of demagogues, what Trump tells us about America’s relationship to enlightenment ideals, and whether climate change and nuclear weapons should call into question our notion of progress.

Email: ask@slate.com
Twitter: @IHaveToAskPod

Podcast production by Max Jacobs.