Poverty, disease, violent crime, famine... nearly every measure of human suffering is going steadily down, as surely as overall prosperity is going up. That's not just optimism, that's what the data show. Today we're delighted to present our guest Steven Pinker, author of several books including his latest, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, which highlights an optimistic, if counterintuitive, look at the future.

Guests