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A comment on Steven Pinker makes case for human progress in ‘Enlightenment Now’. Parent comment

Re:Steven Pinker makes case for human progress in ‘Enlighten... by toasterlovin on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @03:44PM (#16486701)
Given how much easier it is to destroy things than to build them, that things have gotten so much better over such a long period of time would seem to indicate that there is some causal force at work and that it isn't merely a string of incredibly good luck.
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Re:Steven Pinker makes case for human progress in ‘Enlighten... by foldr on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @03:51PM (#16486778)
Sure, maybe. I didn't say that an 'almost providential' view of history is necessarily wrong, just that Pinker does indeed seem to hold such a view.
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Re:Steven Pinker makes case for human progress in ‘Enlighten... by toasterlovin on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @06:51PM (#16488399)
How could anybody digesting Pinker's message come to that conclusion? His whole message is that we got here primarily because we embraced reason and science and that we can get to an even better place as long as we continue to embrace reason and science.
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Re:Steven Pinker makes case for human progress in ‘Enlighten... by foldr on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @07:00PM (#16488461)
Right, that is the view that is being labeled almost providential. There's a quote from the book that I posted in another comment that pretty clearly exemplifies the 'almost' providential nature of Pinker's view of history:

"Though I am skittish about any notion of historical inevitability, cosmic forces or mystical arcs of justice, some kinds of social change really do seem to be carried along by an inexorable tectonic force."

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