Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Famine has long been a major problem for human populations. Even wealthy nations routinely experienced famine until recently; Pinker cites a late 19th-century famine in Sweden as an example. He quotes a primary source that explains how in 1868 Sweden, “emaciated, starving children were often seen going from farm to farm begging for a few crumbs of bread” (68). This tragic account helps illustrate the desperation people experienced during food shortages, which Pinker says occurred every few decades. He observes that, incredibly, in today’s developed countries, people are more at risk of obesity-related diseases than starvation.

Although the global population has increased significantly in recent centuries, we access nutrition more reliably, even in developing nations. China, India, and African countries now average at least 2,400 calories per day, per person. This improvement has lowered rates of medical conditions such as growth stunting and wasting. Pinker reiterates that these gains occurred while the human population increased by billions worldwide. While nations such as Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Nigeria have experienced famines in recent decades, these tragedies had lower death rates than previous famines.

Pinker explains that the rapid increase in global population in the 20th century alarmed many, including biologist Paul R. Ehrlich, whose early work included the 1968 book The Population Bomb. Ehrlich, like many other intellectuals, was convinced then that the world would be unable to sustain more people and even predicted that 65 million Americans and four billion others would starve in the 1980s. Pinker notes that such thinking had real consequences: Some politicians proposed stopping foreign aid and discouraged health care investment, while countries such as China and India practiced forced sterilization or abortion. By examining misconceptions about agriculture and population, Pinker again emphasizes the weakness of unfounded theories that operate largely on assumption and simplistic interpretation of data. He emphasizes the importance of careful analysis in scientific predictions and condemns needless alarmism, which harms rather than helps society’s goals.

The author notes that this alarmism was unwarranted for two reasons: Americans’ quality of life and access to birth control improved, so they had fewer children than previous generations, while farmers and scientists greatly increased food yields. Agricultural technology such as combine harvesters, fertilizers, irrigation, and better plant breeding has enabled the world to produce much more food using the same amount of land—and at far lower costs than in previous centuries. Moreover, scientist Norman Borlaug began the “Green Revolution” in the 1950s and 1960s by breeding new strains of wheat, rice, and corn that increased yields; and this approach continues to help expand yields of other foods.

Pinker argues strongly in favor of “transgenic […] or genetically modified crops” (77), which various studies and organizations have deemed safe to eat. He holds that because of human selection and breeding of plants over millennia, all crops can be considered “genetically modified” and that transgenic techniques could become an essential part of the “Green Revolution” by allowing farmers in regions with poor soil to effectively grow abundant and nutritious crops.

The author acknowledges the downsides of major agricultural developments such as increased fossil fuel use, pesticides and herbicides, and the creation of massive industrial agriculture companies. However, he argues that critics should consider them acceptable since the advances have made famines almost obsolete. He adds that we should continue to improve processes to eliminate those downsides. Pinker attacks anti-GMO environmentalists who consider genetically modified food “unnatural” and therefore bad, arguing that such advocates are too concerned about pursuing the romantic notion of keeping plants natural or sacred. He considers them ignorant about how genetically modified crops could help feed vulnerable populations in the agriculturally challenged regions of Africa. In responding to attacks on industrial agriculture and GMO science, Pinker portrays these critics as relying on feeling rather than reason and presents his view as based on objective scientific data showing that agricultural advances have been successful. Additionally, he notes that the continuing “Green Revolution” and its new scientific discoveries require open-mindedness.

The author adds that many famines are human-made; historically, governments such as Stalin’s USSR and European colonial officials in Africa and Asia created famine conditions either accidentally or to intentionally starve certain populations. Most famine victims in the 20th century died during engineered famines in communist countries such as the USSR, China, and North Korea. Now that we have the knowledge and technology to produce food in abundance, “the decline of famine depends on the decline of poverty, war, and autocracy” (78).