Matt Ridley: Humanity's Best Days Are in the Foreseeable Future

“On what principle is it that with nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?”

by Matt Ridley
November 12, 2015 

I took part in a Munk debate on 6 November, in which Steven Pinker and I argued that “humanity’s best days lie ahead” while Malcolm Gladwell and Alain de Botton argued against us. It was entertaining.

Here’s the text of my opening statement:

Woody Allen once said:

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

That’s the way pretty well everybody talks about the future. When I was young the future was grim. The population explosion was unstoppable, famine was inevitable, pesticides were giving us cancer, the deserts were advancing, the oil was running out, the rain forests were doomed, acid rain, bird flu, and the hole in the ozone layer were going to make us sick, my sperm count was on the way down, and a nuclear winter would finish us off.

You think I am exaggerating. Here’s what a best-selling book  by t…