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“take wisdom.” The genie waves his hand and vanishes in a puff of smoke. The smoke clears to reveal the dean with his head in his hands, lost in thought. A minute elapses. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Finally a professor calls out, “Well? Well?” The dean mutters, “I should have taken the money.”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“An analysis in Bangladesh confirmed that the women who worked in the garment industry (as my grandparents did in 1930s Canada) enjoyed rising wages, later marriage, and fewer and better-educated children.46 Over the course of a generation, slums, barrios, and favelas can morph into suburbs, and the working class can become middle class.47 To appreciate the long-term benefits of industrialization one does not have to accept its cruelties.”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“In explaining this Somalia-to-Sweden continuum, with poor violent repressive unhappy countries at one end and rich peaceful liberal happy ones at the other, correlation is not causation, and other factors like education, geography, history, and culture may play roles.60 But when the quants try to tease them apart, they find that economic development does seem to be a major mover of human welfare.61 In an old academic joke, a dean is presiding over a faculty meeting when a genie appears and offers him one of three wishes—money, fame, or wisdom. The dean replies, “That’s easy. I’m a scholar. I’ve devoted my life to understanding. Of course I’ll”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“Though it’s easy to sneer at national income as a shallow and materialistic measure, it correlates with every indicator of human flourishing, as we will repeatedly see in the chapters to come. Most obviously, GDP per capita correlates with longevity, health, and nutrition.57 Less obviously, it correlates with higher ethical values like peace, freedom, human rights, and tolerance.58 Richer countries, on average, fight fewer wars with each other (chapter 11), are less likely to be riven by civil wars (chapter 11), are more likely to become and stay democratic (chapter 14), and have greater respect for human rights (chapter 14—on average, that is; Arab oil states are rich but repressive). The citizens of richer countries have greater respect for “emancipative” or liberal values such as women’s equality, free speech, gay rights, participatory democracy, and protection of the environment (chapters 10 and 15). Not surprisingly, as countries get richer they get happier (chapter 18); more”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Beatriz’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Beatriz’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
112 books
|
58 friends
137 books
|
147 friends
1,232 books
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281 friends
345 books
|
67 friends
86 books
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121 friends
121 books
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55 friends
137 books
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103 friends
2 books
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35 friends
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