Steven Pinker on Rationality, Progress, and the Paradox of Human Nature

Steven Pinker is a Harvard professor of psychology and author of 'Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.'
Rationality matters because it helps to explain phenomena of progress and improvement.
Progress can be measured in health, wealth, wisdom, violence, and leisure time.
Despite setbacks, progress has happened due to human rationality, which allows people to figure out how the world works and improve the lives of others.
The paradox of human rationality is that while some measures show increased rationality, there is also a lot of irrationality and nuttiness in society.
The collective blundering towards truth is achieved through institutions, scientific societies, government record-keeping agencies, and responsible journalism.
Rules and norms that promote rationality, such as admitting when you're wrong and testing ideas with data or experiments, are necessary for progress.