The case for global optimism with Steven Pinker

The case for global optimism with Steven Pinker

War in Ukraine. Global poverty on the rise. Hunger, too. Not to mention a persistent pandemic. It doesn't feel like a particularly good time to be alive. And yet, Harvard psychologist Stephen Pinker argues that things are getting better today than ever across the world, based on the metrics that matter. Like laundry. In 1920, the average American spent 11.5 hours a week doing laundry (and that average American was almost always a woman, dudes just wore dirty clothes). By 2014, the number had dropped to 1.5 hours a week, thanks to what renowned public health scholar Hans Rosling called "greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution”: the washing machine. By freeing people of washing laundry by hand, this new technology allowed parents to devote more time to educating their children, and it allowed women to cultivate a life beyond the washboard. The automation of laundry is just one of many metrics that Pinker, uses to measure human progress. But how does his optimistic view of the state of the world stack up against the brutality of the modern world? Ian Bremmers asks this "relentlessly optimistic macro thinker" to share his view of the world on the GZERO World podcast.

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Episoder(425)

Unpacking Iran’s competing endgames with Brookings Institution’s Thomas Wright

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Iran at war with Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour

Iran at war with Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour

Ian Bremmer sits down with Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace to examine Iran’s precarious position on the global stage and the forces shaping the country. At the heart of the discus...

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From sweeping tariffs to threats of military action and withdrawal from international institutions, Trump has demonstrated a willingness to break with the United States' approach to international rela...

14 Feb 34min

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As more small businesses move sales, payments, and customer relationships online, they unlock new opportunities, but they also become easier targets for cyber-criminals and other threat actors.In this...

12 Feb 23min

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Singapore's global moment, with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam

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31 Jan 21min

Europe's wake-up call, with Alexander Stubb and Kristalina Georgieva

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24 Jan 33min

Trump's second term–one year in, with Stephen Walt

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17 Jan 22min

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