5.0 out of 5 stars Rational exuberance:the co-evolution of culture and prosperity

S.C. · 26 June 2010

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } Unquestionably one of the most important books I have read in recent years.The elements that comprise the book's fascination and importance are:the first class intellect and original mind of the author, his charisma in writing, his meticulous research (for 359 pages of text proper there are are no fewer than 58 additional pages of notes and references and true to his concept of collective intelligence, he identifies no fewer than 160 individuals from whose thoughts he benefited in writing the book), his brave, original and superbly documented positions which run against the current of perennial pessimism on the future of the human condition and finally but not least the simple but profound nature of the subject he treats.Very concisely the book can be encapsulated in the following:the author introduces us to the concept of collective intelligence which simply means the cross-fertilization of minds and ideas, their recombination and mutations which drives cultural evolution. Against the background of collective intelligence, the author identifies the engines of wealth creation, progress and prosperity which comprise trade, and the concomitant division of labour, specialization and importantly technological innovation. The author argues persuasively that the present day wealth and prosperity is unprecedented compared to merely 200 years ago while we are significantly better off compared to fifty years ago.The author convincingly argues that the perennial pessimism for the humanity's future is based on the false premise of static technology. In fact things such as amount of oil left, the food growing capacity of the world's farmland, even the regenerative capacity of the biosphere- these are not fixed numbers;they are dynamic variables produced by a constant negotiation between human ingenuity and natural constraints.The author concludes correctly optimistically that so long as human exchange and specialisation are allowed to thrive somewhere, then culture evolves whether leaders help it or hinder it, and the result is that prosperity spreads, technology progresses, poverty declines, longevity extends, disease retreats, fecundity falls, happiness increases, violence atrophies, freedom grows, knowledge flourishes, the environment improves and wilderness expands.Read the book, love it and cheer up. And put to shame the Kassandras for their pessimism on humanity's future which is compellingly more likely to be bright rather than dismal.

5.0 out of 5 stars Disruptive, subversive and brilliant

M.R. · 4 April 2011

The Rational Optimist is one of the bravest books I have read. As Ridley himself points out optimists are regarded as fools whist pessimists are seen as earnest sages. For Ridey, himself an academic of some standing, to risk the opprobrium and scorn of his colleagues (and many others besides) is a valiant and selfless act of one who, of course, knows he's right.This book is very uncomfortable reading, not only for people such as myself who would regard themselves on the liberal left, but for the far right, the middle and every bit either side. Quite simply it preaches the unfashionable, and often the publishingly disastrous, notion that we're not all going to hell in a hand cart. Quite the reverse actually. For anyone who wishes to stand Canute like in the face of progress this book is a deep embarrassment and I suspect, destined for their own Bonfire of the vanities.What Ridley does is point out the blindingly, bleeding obvious that the world is a better place to be for the vast majority of its ever increasing population as every decade passes. Crucially this are not the insane musings of some kind of Darwinist evangalist; this book contains page after page of well researched empirical evidence to support his observations - you just cannot argue with the science.Human progress, Ridley argues, is a certainty but for one thing - restrictions to human trade in both commerce and ideas imposed by the benighted self-interest of the few - the anti-genetic engineering lobby who are happy to leave millions starving or suffering from curable diseases for no good scientific reason, the anti-globalists who cannot see that the local prosperity provided by factory jobs is the most potent antidote to poverty yet invented, the environmentalists who believe that turning millions of acres of farm land over to the production of biofuels is the answer to our energy challenges. The list goes on. This is indeed uncomfortable reading as it's so much common sense and flies in the face of our insatiable appetite for bad news. Recently David Cameron was met with howls of derision for suggesting that politics might be about making people's lives happier - good gracious surely every politician knows that a people in fear are a people in thrawl, so let's just drop this absurd idea shall we David and rule on. Happily for readers of this book good news may not sell papers or help our rulers to rule but it's unquestionably and irrefutably out there. Read this and go seek.

Dare to be an optimist (with good reason)

B.I. · 5 July 2010

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } This is a little embarrassing, but right now, right in front of you, millions of ideas are having sex. They might be having it right inside this Bolo review page. I know, freaky, right? According to author Matt Ridley, the secret of humans' success is exchange, and while trade in physical objects is a big part of that, the exchange of ideas is really the thing that has kept this whole civilization thing moving forward for the last 10,000 years or so, and especially in the last 200 years. And when it comes to ideas having sex, the Internet is the ultimate "swingers' club."Ridley's book "The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves" is quite a bit more serious than that first paragraph makes it sound, but it does describe a key point. He says, "Without trade, innovation just does not happen. Exchange is to technology as sex is to evolution. It stimulates novelty." Another key thing that exchange and trade allow is specialization. Self-sufficiency sounds good in theory (and in practice if you are in a basic survival situation), but when it comes to growth, prosperity, and happiness (all closely linked), specialization means more of everything for everybody. If multiple people in a community have different skills and products, and if exchange is allowed, everyone has the potential to benefit from the knowledge and output of everyone else. Ideas are especially valuable in part because sharing an idea is like lighting a candle for someone else - now you both have a lighted candle (or an idea of how to do something better). When knowledge is shared in a community, it becomes something like a "collective brain." And when the community expands to include the entire world, interconnected by vast transportation networks and with the Internet as its central nervous system, you can have the wild orgy of exchange of ideas, goods, and services that we call the modern world.Ridley spends most of the book in a chronological journey through the development of civilization, from the first inklings of exchange and specialization some 200,000 years ago (when we really diverged from other species including our close cousins the apes), through expanded barter systems, to the development of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Of course climate stability had a lot to do with that as well, but an interesting point is that trade is what really made agriculture interesting and worthwhile. There was also the development of energy sources, from human power (including slavery, unfortunately), to animal power, to various forms of "current solar" energy (water power, wind power, burning wood, etc.), to various forms of "stored solar" (coal, oil, natural gas). There are more steps, but it's clear that the modern world is based to a great extent on exchange and specialization, including free trade and the free exchange of ideas. These have in turn produced a wide range of innovations in social systems and technology and led to the astounding prosperity that most (but of course not all) people in the world enjoy today. Ridley points out that while Louis XIV used some 498 servants to prepare his meals, a modern person of average means has many more people working for him or her (mostly indirectly and on a shared basis) to make easily available food, clothing, medicines, transportation, entertainment, and everything else that we take for granted in modern life. In this sense the average person today is richer than a king in the seventeenth century.But if things are so great and getting better all the time, why are so many people so pessimistic about the present and the future? Ridley doesn't have a good explanation for this, though he knows he's fighting from a minority position (optimists must be naive!), and he shows that it has always been so. People were fretting over "peak coal" in 1830, and convinced that things had improved so much in the previous half century that there could be no place to go but down. But of course the rest of the nineteenth century was in fact a golden age of technological and social development. Things like slavery and child labor declined not so much because people became nicer, but because energy sources and manufacturing methods made them less necessary (or you could say affordable).The Rational Optimist is not really an ideological work. While there is a strong sense that Ridley believes that markets generally work better than governments (especially corrupt governments like many in Africa), he's not saying that governments are not necessary. He's certainly a strong proponent for free trade and individual rights, which are strongly correlated with a sense of well-being or "happiness." He also believes that things will continue to get better, even for Africa, as long as we keep moving forward in terms of trade and openness. Although anything can happen including terrorism, crazy governments, natural disasters, etc., his optimism is based on considerations of history and of how things really work, not on wishful thinking or on some belief that prosperity is humanity's right or destiny. It's more or less what we do.I personally tend toward optimism myself, and this book has given me a lot to think about including many reasons for optimism that I hadn't thought about before. I highly recommend this book.

worthwhile

D. · 1 June 2024

Does a wonderful job of explaining why many focus on pessimism and why we shouldn’t. Ridley paints the realistic picture of why life on earth with our fellow humanity has done and will continue to do amazing things.

Ótimo livro!

M.R.d.S. · 5 January 2015

Matt Ridley é editor de ciência da Economist e explica lindamente, com muitos dados e informações históricas, como a humanidade está indo muito bem. O autor traz uma explicação interessante para o desenvolvimento físico, social e cultural do ser humano: a divisão do trabalho e o comércio. Boa leitura para começar o ano animado/a.

llego antes de lo estimado

E.B.O. · 15 November 2022

llego bien

Lectura obligatoria para entender el mundo en que vivimos.

e. · 4 December 2023

El libro que los estatistas, totalitarios, activistas climáticos, ingenieros sociales y agoreros varios no quieren que leas.