Andrew Cohen: Proof of Progress

we are at the bation point as the Nobel Prize IIA pin says now we have to or to act as one or to collapse uh what can how is your vision how can we create a critical mass how can we to that okay well my um my feelings about this question are um are that I I see this I I see this very differently because um uh many people have said and continued to say that things are getting worse and we're on the brink of disaster but you know there are more there are more experts begin to say that in fact there are they are awakening us to the to the good news that in fact human beings have never had it this good and so what that means is there has never been less violence in the world right there's less war there's less conflict there is less killing there's less murder there's less death there's less violent conflict uh for human beings in the world now in spite of the fact fact that the population is somewhere between what seven or 8 billion people it's the the Harvard uh sorry the MIT Professor Steven Pinker uh just published an extraordinary book called The Better angels of our nature and in it he he he describes an exhaustive detail how the level of violence of man on man has never been this small ever in human history in spite of the fact that there's more and more people in the world than there's ever been so the so violence has been reduced the standard of living right access to to water to food running water food toilets education political Freedom personal freedom there has never been so many people in the world that have had and have experienced the standard such a high standard of living level of education and personal and political freedom in human history um and on top of that there is there in terms of the the develop our technological development at the moment right now is is is um is developing exponentially uh and I just in a book I just read There was the the um there was a sentence that said a uh a a Messi Warrior Messi warrior in Africa with the cell phone has communication power that I think uh only like 15 or 20 years ago they infinitely transcended the communication power of an American president like 20 years ago so so I I I I now am changing my tune because I I refuse to uh uh to believe all the the the preachers of gloom and doom because I know that we're facing enormous challenges right we are facing enormous challenges uh you know uh that and there there are enormous threats to our Global health and Global survival I'm not naive I'm aware of that but I think that we need to temper our fears and concern about about the imminent dangers that exist with with the very rational recognition and observation that as bad as things are things have never been this good ever in all of human history and I think recognizing that will Empower us in a very positive way to believe in our capacity to uh to get through and face the challenges that we're facing and and even uh and even maybe Triumph as a global species in ways in which many people just don't think is possible and I I think and in this way of looking at our predicament we can gain a kind of self-confidence in as Stephen Pinker said the better angels of our nature instead of constantly thinking that we're destroying ourselves and we're you know and and and there's no way to stop it