{"id":79760,"date":"2022-09-28T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T17:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=79760"},"modified":"2022-09-29T13:32:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T17:32:24","slug":"human-progress-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is human progress<\/a>? Can it be defined objectively? What’s “better”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologist Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress<\/a>. But, exactly what that means can be hard to pin down. He tackles the definition in his book Enlightenment Now<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn what human progress is, according to Pinker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Human Progress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pinker defines human progress as using reason, science, and humanism<\/a> to better conditions for all of humanity<\/em>. He argues that progress is made by making changes in social institutions like laws and educational systems, not by trying to change anything in human nature. (Shortform note: Some people believe the opposite\u2014that progress is made by changing people<\/a>. Conservative thinkers have argued that human flourishing must begin within the individual, often through spiritual development, and they oppose attempts to regulate progress by law.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a definition of \u201cprogress\u201d as using reason, science, and humanism to improve conditions for humanity <\/em>seems straightforward, the word \u201cimprove\u201d implies a value judgment and is therefore subjective. Who decides what\u2019s better? Pinker believes we can agree on some universals in this area\u2014there are some things we can all<\/em> agree are better than other things. For example, he says: Health is better than sickness, peace is better than violence, and freedom is better than enslavement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some of these dichotomies may seem obvious, there are some other measures of \u201cimprovement\u201d that Pinker strives to defend, as they are not as obviously universally \u201cbetter.\u201d For example, the claim that wealth is inherently better than poverty can be challenged by pointing out that a person who is poor but happy is better off than a person who is wealthy but miserable. Or, one could argue that wealthier, more technologically advanced human societies are not worth the sacrifice of an environmental crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Scholars have argued that the focus on continuous economic growth is at the root of the environmental crisis<\/a>, and they call for implementing \u201cno growth\u201d or even \u201cdeliberately de-growth\u201d economic models for the future. They admit, however, that the continuous growth ideology is deeply embedded in the thought patterns<\/a> of modern people, so the idea of deliberate de-growth is highly unsettling for many. Therefore, they say changing the way people think<\/em> is crucial in the fight against climate change.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinker tackles some of these objections, arguing that, to solve the dilemmas we face in the modern world, we simply need to push forward with reason, science, and humanism. He argues that people today who don\u2019t think life is all-around better than it was for humans in the past suffer from two problems:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. They have distorted perceptions<\/a> of the world, due to biases in what they see and how they think.<\/li>
  2. They\u2019re ungrateful for what they have because they\u2019re so disconnected from the unpleasant reality of what life in past societies was like.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is human progress? Can it be defined objectively? What’s “better”? Psychologist Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, exactly what that means can be hard to pin down. He tackles the definition in his book Enlightenment Now. Keep reading to learn what human progress is, according to Pinker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":79779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,9,24],"tags":[753],"class_list":["post-79760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-psychology","category-society","tag-enlightenment-now","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHuman Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the "what" and "how."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the "what" and "how."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":491,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Enlightenment Now\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Philosophy\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\",\"name\":\"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the \\\"what\\\" and \\\"how.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means - Shortform Books","description":"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the \"what\" and \"how.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means","og_description":"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the \"what\" and \"how.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means","datePublished":"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/"},"wordCount":491,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","keywords":["Enlightenment Now"],"articleSection":["Philosophy","Psychology","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/","name":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-28T17:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-29T17:32:24+00:00","description":"Steven Pinker believes that humanity is on the path of progress. But, what does human progress mean? He explains the \"what\" and \"how.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-progress-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Human Progress: Steven Pinker Explains What It Means"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dictionary.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79760"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79895,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79760\/revisions\/79895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}