{"product_id":"do-humankinds-best-days-lie-ahead-the-munk-debates-paperback","title":"Do Humankind's Best Days Lie Ahead?: The Munk Debates - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSteven Pinker\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMatt Ridley\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eAlain De Botton\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProgress. It is one of the animating concepts of the modern era. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that human civilization has become different, not better, over the last two and a half centuries. What is seen as a breakthrough or innovation in one period becomes a setback or limitation in another. In short, progress is an ideology not a fact; a way of thinking about the world as opposed to a description of reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the seventeenth semi-annual Munk Debates, which was held in Toronto on November 6, 2015, pioneering cognitive scientist Steven Pinker and bestselling author Matt Ridley squared off against noted philosopher Alain de Botton and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell to debate whether humankind's best days lie ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSteven Pinker\u003c\/b\u003e is a pioneering cognitive scientist who has written a number of of bestselling books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as the landmark study on human progress \u003ci\u003eThe Better Angels of Our Nature\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book of the Year Award and was chosen for Mark Zuckerberg's book club. \u003ci\u003eThe Blank Slate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow the Mind Works\u003c\/i\u003e were both finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He is Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard and has been named by \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He lives in Boston. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMatt Ridley's\u003c\/b\u003e books have been finalists for nine major literary prizes, won several awards, been translated into thirty languages, and sold over one million copies. He currently writes the Mind and Matter column in the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e and writes regularly for \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e. As Viscount Ridley, he was appointed to the House of Lords in 2013 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Northumberland, UK. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlain de Botton\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a philosophy of everyday life. He has written about love, travel, architecture, and literature. His books have been bestsellers in thirty countries. De Botton also started and helps to run a London-based school called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. His latest book, published in February 2014, is titled \u003ci\u003eThe News: A User's Manual\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in London. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMalcom Gladwell\u003c\/b\u003e is a Canadian journalist and the author of five \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestsellers: \u003ci\u003eThe Tipping Point, Blink, What the Dog Saw\u003c\/i\u003e, and his latest, \u003ci\u003eDavid and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants\u003c\/i\u003e. He has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and one of \u003ci\u003eForeign Policy\u003c\/i\u003e magazine's Top 100 Global Thinkers. Gladwell has been a staff writer for \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e since 1996. He has won a National Magazine Award and been honored by the American Psychological Society and the American Sociological Society. He lives in New York.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 128\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 07, 2016\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48728769790201,"sku":"9781487001681","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/Vr49apZfqS9781487001681.webp?v=1785326635","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/do-humankinds-best-days-lie-ahead-the-munk-debates-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}