The Rational Optimist

A rare optimistic post. Even amidst all the problems we face, economic, environmental, political and global; history teaches us that progress is inevitable. While there are certainly winners and losers, overall mankind has, since the stone age, marched forward toward a brighter day. While we see more and more fear about change, we even see a kind of pathological nostalgia in some quarters, the fact is, by every objective measure, the world is getting better. That's the focus of Matt Ridley's new book The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. My conversation with Matt Ridley: