It’s time to add meat to the bone of the worldview sketched-out in The Jolly Pilgrim.

Thanks to all those who commented on that optimistic worldview. Bar these counterarguments, the central critique seems to be that – even though we live during the most enlightened and open-minded, least violent, least diseased, best fed, wealthiest, coolest, most exciting epoch the world has ever seen – it won’t count for much if Earth’s ecosphere goes into meltdown.

That’s a good point. Thanks to those who’ve made it. Read more »

The Jolly Pilgrim called for a longer term view of civilisation.
This follow-up article argues that environmentalists should be more imaginative
about the possibilities for economic evolution

PDF version: Sustainability and economic growth are not mutually exclusive_Peter Baker

In the past two centuries, human civilisation has experienced an unprecedented increase in global gross domestic product (GDP) – economic growth associated with a precipitous rise in material prosperity, which has left sixth sevenths of Earth’s population enjoying living standards beyond those of all but a small minority who lived prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Read more »

SUMMATION

The often-accepted narrative of a world in decline is inconsistent with the facts. Judging the state of humanity from first principles – that of a species of evolved, fallible apes on a rock with no rule book, making it up on the fly – is not only the most realistic way to think about human civilisation, but lends itself to a profoundly optimistic, big-picture reinterpretation of today’s social, economic and geopolitical realities. Read more »

26 March 2012

I’ve been asked to explain (and justify) why I use (and favour) the CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era) dating system, rather than the more traditional AD (Anno Domini, or ‘In the Year of Our Lord’) and BC (‘Before Christ’) system. Read more »

19 February 2012

A tricky decision while compiling The Jolly Pilgrim was how hard to go with the final global musings. In particular, the thirteenth: Apotheosis.

In the end, we chose to tone down the original draft (for the book), and post the ‘uncut’ version online at a later date. You can now find it here: Link to original version of GM13: Apotheosis Read more »