A Case for Intelligent Optimism

It is absolutely imperative, and indeed, it is our moral obligation, to be optimistic based on reason and by facing facts. Intelligent optimism implies being excited about what science and technology have to offer. It means being optimistic about the future in an informed and rational way.

Intelligent Optimism is also the theme of SciFest Dubai, the first science festival of its kind in the city. One of the aims of this festival is to create an awareness of the benefits of science and the positive impact the scientific method has had on society. The hope is to inspire a sense of critical wonder and serious awe about the universe we live in and humanity’s attempt to make sense of it.

So, why should we be optimistic?

Steven Pinker points out that we are now living longer, healthier, wealthier, safer lives than at any time in the history of our species. There will be those who will scoff at this notion. They will remind us of the terrible events of the 20th Century. The 1918 influenza epidemic killed fifty million people. World War 2 killed another sixty million. There were tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods and plagues of locusts.

Despite such unrest, this period also saw:

We have massively increased our access to goods and services, transportation, information, education, medicines, means of communication, human rights, and democratic institutions.

Huge strides in the Rights Revolution: rights for women, for children and for animals. Slavery, torture, and human sacrifice as state-sanctioned practices have almost disappeared.

The safest, most peaceful era in our history.

Your chance of being murdered by another human being is lower today than it’s ever been. In previous centuries there were 100 murders on average per 100,000 people. Today, in many parts of the world we have an average of 1 murder per 100,000 people. That’s a 100-fold decrease in the murder rate.

The United Nations describes a serious conflict as any conflict that involves more than 1,000 deaths on average per year. In 1990 there were dozens upon dozens of conflicts that would have been classified as “serious conflicts” by the United Nations. In 2013, there were only seven.

The fact is we have lost our appetite for war. Colonial wars have disappeared. The number of interstate wars has reduced and civil wars are at their lowest. These are not statistics I’m pulling out of a hat. They’re based on United Nations reports.

We are now living in what’s known as the Long Peace. This is the longest period that has passed without the world powers going to war.

World literacy is at its highest. The number of people living in extreme poverty has been halved. The successes of medical science beggar belief. We now have vaccines to protect us against, to name just a few:

Pull the present toward the future.

Intelligent Optimism is a way to counter the negative bias in the media about our species. Our hope is to encourage people to be more proactive about making the world a better place. Our aim is to help people recognise the tremendous potential humans have to overcome problems, find solutions and solve problems using the scientific method. That’s what humans do best.

There are brilliant scientists out there achieving remarkable things. Tremendous advances are being made in the fields of genetics, nanotechnology, robotics, quantum computing and neuroscience. The future is incredibly exciting. And as we step into this exciting future, it is essential that we embrace the values of the age of enlightenment and foster a human society based on reason. We must teach our children to value the scientific method and cultivate a questioning spirit of inquiry. We must encourage our youth to be curious, because at heart, humans are explorers and dreamers.