Welcome and thank you for visiting my website and blog. I felt called to this work because I believe that the world is getting better. For most of my life I was quite skeptical of the idea of “progress.” Growing up in postmodern, deconstructionist times, I came to believe that the US was racist, imperialist and just downright evil. I started to have a brighter view of our times when the USSR collapsed and the Cold War ended. The economic expansion of the 90s gave me further reason for optimism. When 9/11 happened I thought the US overreacted. The blood and treasure spent on "The War on Terror" seemed to dear a price to pay. But what should we focus on, if not terrorism?
Steven Pinker’s book The Better Angels of Our Nature brought my burgeoning optimism to
full flower. My intuition, I thought, was right – things are much better than they appear.
In this blog I plan to explore the data and evidence that shows how the world’s getting safer, freer, better educated, longer lived, and less poor. That said, I promise to do regular sanity checks and look at the “pessimists'” ideas, arguments and evidence. And I promise to do my best to “follow the data,” wherever it leads, especially when it causes me to rethink my premises.
I hope you enjoy this journey, and please subscribe to my newsletter, The Weekly Better. In it you'll find the latest good news that will change your view of humanity for the better.
This journey has made me happier, optimistic...and better! I wish the same for you.
~Henry Edwards