I’ve been reading Steven Pinker’s book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress. This preening tome professes a pragmatic and quantitative approach to the world’s problems. Steven Pinker answers: In the very act of asking that question, you are seeking reasons for your convictions, and so you are committed to reason as the means to discover and justify what is important to you. In the midst of turbulent transformations and discontents, rather than try to understand the predicament of modernity and its possibility crisis brought forth by the very “Enlightenment” which Pinker subjectively, rosily, and merrily picked from, he doubled down on re-propagating the tired old myth of progress. Photo: Rose Lincoln, Harvard University, Harvard Staff Photographer 2 of 3 Steven Pinker… The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that in an isolated system (one that is not taking in energy), entropy always increases over time. For Pinker, the second law of thermodynamics doesn’t simply identify a universal regularity in the natural world, “it defines the fate of the universe and the ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and knowledge to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order”. Is the world getting better or worse?
Why things fall apart in the physical world and in our world, too. Steven Pinker on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. A look at the numbers A TED Talk by Steven Pinker. As a sentient being, you have the potential to flourish. Steven Pinker. And there are so many reasons to live! For Pinker, modern capitalist democracy has basically gotten things right, and activism should at most consist of pushing for minor improvements, mitigating bad symptoms around the edges. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that in an isolated system (one that is not taking in energy), entropy never decreases. (The First Law is that energy is conserved; the Third, that a temperature of absolute zero is unreachable.) Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker (Viking, 576 pp., $35). Steven Pinker is the public face of contemporary neo-Whiggism.
Pinker’s fundamental, guiding principle is that of “entropy.” Borrowed from the second law of thermodynamics, entropy is the idea that in closed systems things become less ordered and more chaotic over time. The Second Law of Thermodynamics. How We Evaluate Our Current Circumstances: Talking to Steven Pinker. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about how our… As the renowned scientist Steven Pinker noted, “The Second Law defines the ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.” See: The Second Law of Thermodynamics by Steven Pinker.
Systemic critique, … Steven Pinker Interview, 40th Anniversary Issue of the Science Times section, New York Times. Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now is a manual for liberal self-congratulation. 1 of 3 Steven Pinker says our big brains make us suited to fighting entropy to making improvements. Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology; Harvard University; Author, Enlightenment Now.