… is from page 189 of Steven Pinker’s 2018 book, Enlightenment Now:
Humanity’s conquest of everyday danger is a peculiarly unappreciated form of progress.
DBx: So true. Yet one downside of this progress is that all remaining sources of danger loom, in our minds, relatively larger than they loomed earlier. Unaware of this progress against threats to our lives and vigor (for it is so commonplace today that we take it for granted), we fail to put today’s risks in proper perspective. A result is unwarranted panic.
